Independent Global Study of Developers and Testing Professionals Reveals Majority of Respondents Practice 'Fast Waterfall' Testing vs Agile Software Delivery
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 26, 2016) - Sauce Labs, Inc., provider of the world's largest cloud-based platform for automated testing of web and mobile applications, today announced the results of an independent survey titled, "Testing Trends in 2016: A Survey of Software Professionals." The survey, conducted by Dimensional Research, reveals that while 88 percent of organizations say they have adopted agile development, only one in five have fully implemented the five best software testing practices typically associated with a mature agile development process.
The report, commissioned by Sauce Labs, represents the company's second annual "State of Testing" research report, and is designed to better understand current trends in delivering high quality web and mobile applications. Covering topics such as agile software development, modern testing techniques, Continuous Integration (CI), and cross-browser test coverage, the report stems from a survey conducted in December 2015 of more than 520 technology professionals responsible for the quality of software applications.
"Development teams continue to adopt agile methodologies like continuous integration (CI) to build better software faster," said Charles Ramsey, CEO of Sauce Labs. "What is surprising from this report is the revelation that many teams who believe they are practicing an agile testing process are really performing 'fast waterfall' instead. This presents a huge opportunity for these teams to continue to improve their processes, increase their use of automation and accelerate development even further."
In addition to revealing the prevalence of fast waterfall development, the findings also reveal that the market continues its adoption of CI, with 77 percent of respondents citing use of the modern development technique within their teams, up from 70 percent from last year. Importantly, the research also reveals that these teams are beginning to reap the benefits of Continuous Integration, with respondents reporting that implementing CI has resulted in more systematic and rigorous testing, the introduction of more new features for rapid customer feedback and writing code with fewer errors.
Cross-browser testing also remains important with 95 percent of large companies performing some type of cross-browser testing. In addition, Microsoft's new browser released in August 2015 is already grabbing the attention of developers with almost one-third of respondents saying they test their applications on Microsoft Edge.
Additional key findings from the report include:
Agile is ubiquitous but few have fully embraced testing best practices
Continuous Integration (CI) changes testing
Cross-Browser Testing remains important, especially for large organizations
"Development teams are beginning to see real benefits of implementing Continuous Integration (CI)," said Diane Hagglund, principal researcher of Dimensional Research. "The report reveals that while certain benefits may not be seen immediately, there are considerable long-term advantages to CI that make its adoption worthwhile."
To download the full "Testing Trends in 2016" report, click here.
Survey Methodology
A global database of software professionals responsible for the quality of web applications was emailed an invitation to participate in a Web survey on the topic of testing trends. A total of 520 individuals completed the survey. Participants included a variety of roles, company sizes, industries and regions. A copy of this report was offered as an incentive for participation. Certain questions were repeated from a similar survey conducted with the same audience one year ago to capture changes.
About Dimensional Research
Dimensional Research® provides practical market research to help technology companies make their customers more successful. Our researchers are experts in the people, processes, and technology of corporate IT and understand how technology organizations operate. We partner with our clients to deliver actionable information that reduces risks, increases customer satisfaction, and grows the business. For more information visit www.dimensionalresearch.com.
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About Sauce Labs
Sauce Labs provides the world's largest cloud-based platform for the automated testing of web and mobile applications. Its award-winning service eliminates the time and expense of maintaining an in-house testing infrastructure, freeing development teams of any size to innovate and release better software, faster.
Sauce Labs is a privately held company funded by Toba Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Triage Ventures and the Contrarian Group. For more information, please visit http://saucelabs.com.
Contact Information:
Media Contact:
Scott Lechner
Kulesa Faul for Sauce Labs
(530) 521-3095
scott@kulesafaul.com