NEWS
Continuous testing crucial in product development life cycle to enable rapid release of software
Greg Harrowsmith , Pre-Sales CASA Software
No matter what agile development approach an organisation embraces , continuous testing has become crucial throughout the product development life cycle to enable the rapid release of quality software that delivers on expectations and supports the business ’ s strategy .
However , there are several challenges and roadblocks to be overcome with continuous testing in an agile environment , says Greg Harrowsmith , Pre-Sales at CASA Software .
In an agile environment , there is a complete shift in how software is developed , tested and consumed . Contrary to waterfall approaches agile testing shifts left and commences early in the process ; adopting a fail first approach ensures that by the time the minimum viable product is released , it aligns with organisational requirements , and functions as expected .
However , if you are starting from scratch , you may not have the necessary data , test data and many endpoints or services may not be available or have yet to be developed .”
Testing itself can be considered a roadblock in agile environments , he says . In time constrained environments , it is a balance
between numbers and time , so exhaustive testing becomes problematic . Moreover , as the application matures the number of test cases increases , and test pack creep becomes the biggest headache .
This is often compounded by a Testing Centre of Excellence that is operating in a waterfall and manual manner . This , of course , slows things down .
A data management and data security policy , or test data management policy , is crucial for compliance and risk mitigation , as well as accelerating testing and development . TDM enables testers to quickly locate , secure , design , create and provision fit for purpose test data and generate synthetic test data to deliver fast accurate testing of the application . An effective TDM Policy means you can have the right data at the right time and in the right quantity .
Vertiv survey finds infra managers most concerned with energy performance , staffing shortfalls
Organisations around the world are trying to manage an explosion of data across distributed sites and environments , requiring them to be more agile and responsive than ever before , but often by means of legacy infrastructure . This scenario is no different for businesses in West Africa .
So said Gbenga Adebowale , Enterprise Sales Director for Central Africa at Vertiv , a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions .
Speaking at the West African leg of a series of Accelerate events run by Vertiv , Adebowale clarified to attending Nigerian and Ghanian organisations that local businesses not only face similar challenges as their global counterparts but must also contend with unstable power and the rising costs of doing business , further complicating efforts to integrate , monitor and manage data faster and more efficiently .
“ Part of the answer lies in harnessing the power of intelligent infrastructure , which assists in overcoming complexity , improving efficiencies , and accelerating data management ,” he added .
Eben Owen , Senior Business Director , Anglophone Africa , Uptime Institute , a guest speaker at the Nigerian Accelerate event , corroborated Adebowale ‘ s statements , backing this with results from the Uptime Institute ’ s 14th Annual Uptime Institute Global Data Centre Survey , which is the most comprehensive and longest-running study of its kind .
The survey collected responses from more than 850 data centre owners and operators , including those responsible for managing infrastructure at the world ’ s largest IT organisations , as well as 700 vendors and consultants . Almost 10 % of the respondents were from Africa , with an additional 20 %
Gbenga Adebowale , Enterprise Sales Director , Central Africa at Vertiv
coming from the US and Canada , another 21 % from Latin America , and a similar percentage from Europe .
The findings in the report highlight the experiences and strategies of data centre owners and operators in the areas of resiliency , sustainability , efficiency , regulations , staffing , cloud and innovative technologies .
14 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com