Leveraging Quality Engineering for CI/CD

Understanding CI/CD and Quality Engineering

CI/CD stands for continuous integration and continuous delivery, and it aims to streamline and accelerate the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

Continuous Integration involves frequently integrating code changes into a shared repository, where automated tests are run to detect integration errors early.

Continuous Delivery extends this concept further by automating the deployment process, enabling rapid and reliable delivery of software updates.

Quality Engineering encompasses various practices and principles, and focuses on the quality of software products at every stage of the SDLC. This includes challenge at inception, scrutinisation of requirements, building testability into code, and then delivering testing such as test automation, performance testing, security testing, and more. To make this happen, Quality Engineers work alongside developers and the rest of your organisation to embed quality into every stage of your project.

Working together

Quality Engineering and CI/CD work hand in hand, each reinforcing the other: here are just a few of the main areas of that relationship…

1. Automated Testing: One of Roq’s main QE Principles is ‘Automation First’, which strives to automate when we can, as quickly as possible, utilising Roq’s Test Automation Accelerator. These automated tests provide rapid feedback on code changes, ensuring that defects are caught quickly and early in the development cycle, which is fundamental to CI.

2. Continuous Feedback: Another of Roq’s Quality Engineering Principles is ‘360 Feedback’. Quality Engineering establishes a continuous feedback loop by integrating quality gates into the CI/CD pipeline. These gates ensure that only code meeting predefined quality criteria progresses, preventing the introduction of defects into production environments, saving time and money later on in the project.

3. Shift Left and Right: Quality Engineering doesn’t only promote the adoption of "shift-left" testing, but also “shift-right”, ensuring that quality is considered throughout the SDLC and post deployment. By identifying and addressing issues at all stages, teams can reduce the cost and effort required to fix defects, accelerating the delivery of high-quality software.

4. Security Testing: Quality Engineering integrates security testing into the CI/CD pipeline to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the application's code and dependencies. By scanning for flaws early and often, teams can proactively address security concerns and reduce the likelihood of breaches.

5. Continuous Improvement: Another one of Roq’s QE Principles… Quality Engineering fosters a culture of continuous improvement by analysing test results, identifying areas for optimisation, and refining testing strategies iteratively. By leveraging metrics and analytics, teams can track the effectiveness of their processes and make data-driven decisions to improve quality.

As you can see, Quality Engineering plays a pivotal role in supporting CI/CD pipelines, enabling teams to deliver high-quality software at speed and scale. By automating testing processes, establishing quality gates, promoting testing throughout and beyond the software development lifecycle, and considering all types of testing, Quality Engineering empowers organisations to achieve their goals.

In today's fast-paced digital environments, where software is a key differentiator for businesses, investing in Quality Engineering is not just a choice but a necessity, and now is the time to do exactly that. By harnessing the relationship between Quality Engineering and CI/CD, organisations can accelerate their software delivery cycles, reduce time-to-market, enhance end-user experience and ultimately drive greater business value.

If you’d like to discuss anything you’ve read in this article, or have a chat about how Roq’s QE services and accelerators can support your business on its quality journey, please do reach out.