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- AI: 78% of Software Testers have already adopted some form of AI to improve productivity, especially around tasks like test case generation and test analytics
- Reliability Concerns: Study finds that, due to increasing impact of poor software reliability on businesses in 2023, teams have responded by seeking to improve their software testing practices.
- Improvement in Bottlenecks: A number of bottlenecks remain in testing processes with 74% of QA teams running automated tests without prioritization systems which affects response time to problems.
A new “Future of Quality Assurance 2023” study1 by LambdaTest of 1,615 software testing professionals from 70 different countries has shed new light on software testing practices in 2023, including finding that 78% have already adopted AI.
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2023 has seen a number of high-profile software failures in the USA, including affecting financial markets and air traffic suffering “its largest and most catastrophic disruption of service since 9/11.” 2 Separately, recent research3 independently conducted by Dr. Junade Ali CEng FIET found 71% of software engineers agreed to a great or moderate extent that software reliability at their workplace concerned them, with the percentage concerned to a great extent increasing 68% since 2021.
Building on these findings, LambdaTest’s new research has shown that companies are working to respond to the need for greater software reliability with 72% of organizations involving testers in “sprint” planning sessions, signaling a substantial shift towards software quality being considered earlier in the software development lifecycle.
Amongst these efficiency improvements, the survey shows that there has been rapid adoption of AI technologies. Uses of AI reported by software testers have included automating the creation of test data (51%), writing code for automated tests (45%), test result analysis and reporting (36%), and formulating test cases (46%). Additionally, 89% of organizations are automating the deployment and running of tests through CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery) tools.
However; the research has also highlighted that gaps continue to exist in software testing. Teams are spending 10% of their time on setting up and maintaining test environments and a further 8% of time is spent fixing flaky tests. 74% of teams lacked a structured prioritization system, potentially overlooking factors like risk levels and customer feedback when running automated tests. Finally, many teams lack data-driven insights in order to measure software reliability – 29% lacked Test Intelligence infrastructure to provide insights on how automated tests are running and 12% lacked reporting systems.
Asad Khan, CEO & Co-Founder of LambdaTest, said: “At LambdaTest, we understand that while the adoption of AI is a significant step forward, the journey doesn’t end here. For example; our study highlights the need to address bottlenecks affecting productivity like brittle tests alongside the set-up and maintenance of test environments. This presents us with an opportunity as well as a challenge – to develop and implement tools that will efficiently address these bottlenecks to keep driving software quality forward.”
Commenting on the study, Dr. Junade Ali CEng FIET (CEO of Engprax, a software auditing firm) said: “This is a large and comprehensive study that provides us new, vital insights into the state of software reliability and software testing in 2023. The data shows that organizations are attempting to close the gap between the market’s expectations of software reliability and the current state. Artificial Intelligence has seen rapid adoption amongst software testers, however, efficiency challenges remain key to improving the cost, speed and effectiveness of software testing. Software testers and QA staff face great pressure in the software development lifecycle, whilst practices in the industry like engaging them earlier in the process is a step forward, new tools offer a significant opportunity to help close the gap.”
REFERENCE
1 Future of Quality Assurance 2023 – Sparsh Kesari of LambdaTest served as Principal Investigator of the study. LambdaTest collected data from 1,615 software testing professionals from 70 different countries by online interviews [raw data].
2 “How faulty software has left society on the edge of disaster” by Io Dodds of The Independent.
3 Engprax Research by Dr Junade Ali CEng FIET and Survation. Survation is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. All UK adults polling fieldwork was done between 29th September and 8th October (1,989 nationally representative sample, providing 95% confidence the ‘true’ result will fall within 2.20% of the sample result). Software Engineer polling fieldwork conducted on the 25th October (n = 280, providing 95% confidence the ‘true’ result will fall within 5.85% of the sample result).
