Early Testing Saves Time and Money

As part of the Seven Testing Principles of the ISTQB Foundation Level Syllabus, on the early testing principle.

“To find defects early, both static and dynamic test activities should be started as early as possible in the software development lifecycle. Early testing is sometimes referred to as a shift left. Testing early in the software development lifecycle helps reduce or eliminate costly changes.” ISTQB Foundation Syllabus

It also helps to uncover defects at an early stage, which reduces their risk. Finding defects early also improves the overall quality of the product because it reduces the number of defects that are delivered to customers.

Static testing helps to uncover defects in the software development lifecycle before code is generated. It is important that static testing is also done as early as possible. The earlier you can start your static testing, the better. This is especially true for code reviews. The earlier you can start your code reviews, the better.

Start with a business case for early testing to identify the benefits of starting testing as early as possible. What are the financial benefits, such as avoiding the cost of fixing a defect in production, or what is the cost of fixing a defect in production?

As the production of software has become less expensive and more people have access to it, the cost of fixing a defect in production has increased. Consequently, the sooner defects can be found and fixed, the sooner the risk of a software product is reduced.

It also reduces the risk of defects reaching the customer. To find defects early, you need to start testing as soon as the code is written. The earlier you start testing, the sooner you will find defects and the less effort it will take to fix them. There are many tools that can help you with early testing, including unit testing, code analysis, and test-driven development.