According to traditional, waterfall-style methodologies, where testing is often done at the end of the development process what leads to significant bottlenecks that can drip down the project quality and then release. That’s precisely where QAOps comes into the picture.

QAOps, or Quality Assurance Operations, is a software development approach that combines the roles of quality assurance (QA) and operations teams due to ensures that the QA team works mutually with the operations and developers team and is part of the CI/CD  pipeline to achieve superior product quality.

The key benefits with QAOps, the QA and operations teams work together from the start of the development process, with the goal of identifying and fixing issues as early as possible. This can help to reduce the time and effort required to deploy code, and can also improve the overall quality of the software.

Another benefit of QAOps is that it allows for a more agile and iterative approach to software development. By bringing QA practices earlier in the process, it becomes possible to test and deploy code more frequently, leading to faster turnaround times and the ability to respond more quickly to changes in customer needs or business requirements.

3 Steps Life Cycle of QAOps:

QAOps is all about setting the accurate platform with the popular tools on the CI/CD pipeline to ensure that the newly built code is well-validated and tested. Setting up the test platform is familiar to us as it comprises 3 unique steps: Trigger, Execute, and Report.

Trigger

The trigger stage refers to generating accurate test cases suitable for testing the product’s technicality without wasting time building unnecessary test cases. 

So, when designing the triggering phase, you must keep three things in mind:

• Map out the testing at the preliminary stage.
• Consider all kinds of testing, counting integration testing.
• Employ testing for code verification and deployment.

Therefore, the triggering step must be well-mapped and planned with the automated test life cycle. If this step in the QAOps process goes well, the entire team can be convinced enough of the product release.

Implement

The next stage in the QAOps procedure is the implementation phase. The parallel testing approved in the trigger step is implemented in this phase.

Multiple key factors verify the execution planning in the SDLC:

• Parallel tests that kick start the process
• Selecting the proper support for all the integration testing
• Examining the scalability of the whole procedure
• Making sure that the tests are executed in the accurate sequence as needed
• Distributing the load of implementation tests amongst several departments
• Guaranteeing that all the infrastructure and framework are accessible for the execution of the complete process

It’s, therefore, essential to understanding the significance of this precise stage in the QAOps procedure. Since the triggering step comprises planning out the testing, this phase executes the plan accordingly. Hence, the two crucial phases need to be performed in a row.

Report

The report phase is the last step in the QAOps lifecycle, which counts reporting the results of the trigger and implementation steps. The complete brief of the procedure is generated with a complete description as a final report. The perfect reporting module design comprises a summary and detailed information (in a snapshot). 

Besides, the reporting module also includes and stores the history of previously running tests so that individual stakeholders can compare and evaluate the outcomes. Such reports should be made easily obtainable and on demand when needed.

There are several ways in which organizations can implement QAOps, including:

• Embedding QA engineers on development teams: By having QA engineers work alongside developers, it becomes possible to identify and fix issues as they arise, rather than waiting until the end of the development process.
• Automating testing and deployment: By using tools such as continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, it becomes possible to automate much of the testing and deployment process, reducing the time and effort required to release code.
• Implementing agile practices: By adopting agile methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban, it becomes possible to break down large projects into smaller, more manageable chunks, which can be tested and deployed more quickly.

Overall, QAOps is a valuable approach to software development that can help organizations to improve the speed and efficiency of their development and deployment processes, while also improving the overall quality of their software. By breaking down silos between QA and operations teams, and adopting agile practices, organizations can achieve faster turnaround times, respond more quickly to changes in customer needs, and deliver higher-quality software.