Top 7 Software Quality Engineering Trends to Attain Positive Business Outcomes in 2023 — Part 1

Let’s start with technologies. 

Virtual reality makes a difference in multiple industries. Automotive front-runners use it to conduct engineering reviews of a vehicle and spot flaws before spending huge sums on manufacturing; healthcare professionals learn how to operate by applying VR-based apps; police officers conduct simulations to train personnel briskly make critical decisions. No wonder the global market size of AR/VR is forecasted to reach $250 billion in 2028. 

Another technology that is also gaining momentum ― 3D printing. By 2030, the number of delivered units will boost by tenfold and comprise 21.5 million. With their help, aerospace organizations create parts for plane interiors or elements for satellites, medical institutions make organ replicas, and even the food industry utilizes it to print meals for gourmets!  

So, no surprise that companies constantly contribute to staying current with emerging trends and infuse them into their roadmaps to efficiently attain set objectives. 

However, to function as intended, software solutions with such complex technologies at the core require proper QA and testing support. To build an effective testing strategy in the year ahead, I suggest considering the top 7 industry trends, which I’ll focus on in the two parts of the article. So, let’s cut to the chase. 

Trend 1. Stick to sustainable quality engineering  

Delivering tech at speed and within budget isn’t the only business objective anymore. Today, companies are making a big step towards wasting fewer resources by ensuring higher quality from the get-go, in other words ― green quality engineering.  

According to the World Quality Report, 2022-23 (WQR), which interviewed 1,750 IT executives, the most vivid advantages of following this practice are: better brand image, enhanced consumer and supplier loyalty, improved total revenue, and refined customer satisfaction. 

Although organizations test for energy and resource effectiveness, usability, performance efficiency, modularity, and reusability, only 54% of them possess accurately defined sustainability requirements.  

Currently, companies consider that the best ways to improve their resource usage are, for instance, cloud technology for test environments, optimized test data, performance testing, and test automation. And these are for sure good options. In addition to these measures, organizations can: 

1. Focus more on shift-left testing to ensure high software quality from the early SDLC stages, make it a shared responsibility, and prevent defects rather than fix them. 
2. Gauge environmental impacts due to configuring software performance monitoring solutions. 
3. Push forward sustainability since the design stage to set up a more resource-intensive way of implementing the application.  

Trend 2. Support emerging technologies with quality engineering 

Emerging technologies play a vital role in driving operational efficiencies as they create smarter systems that can improve performance across any industry.  

Just have a look: already today, nanotechnology helps us design materials with outstanding, self-healing capabilities; quantum computing development brings us closer to performing data processing at skyrocketed speed; the present-day work on green hydrogen will help us reach net zero gas emissions in the future. Isn’t that great? 

According to Gartner, we’ll witness the rise of... 

• sustainable technology 
• superapps that possess the characteristics of an app, a platform, and an ecosystem 
• cloud platforms.  

My thoughts are also that artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to stay a prominent trend in the years to come. However, it’s vital to first fully understand it, and only then gradually delegate responsibilities to this technology. 

While the WQR states that in the years to come, organizations will bet on such pivotal technologies as blockchain and Web 3.0, digital twins, 3D printing, quantum computing, and the metaverse.  

The report also shows that the interviewed companies expect that these novel trends will help them reach seamless user experience (66%), significantly enhance test environment and data management (61%), and speed up processes without compromising software quality (59%).  

Considering the overall complexity of these evolving solutions, specific skills are required to cope with modern software development effectively: blockchain, cybersecurity, cloud computing, embedded systems, big data and analytics, AI/ML, and telecommunications. 

In addition, without a well-thought-out strategy for ensuring the quality of IT products with these tech novelties at the core, organizations confront cybersecurity threats, grow slowly, and struggle to attain business needs.  

To prevent that from happening and release top-tier software, it’s possible for companies to: 

1. Focus on engaging high-skilled QA engineers proficient in decentralization and other high-priority dimensions.  
2. Make a shift to DevSecOps to infuse security practices from the earliest development stages. 
3. Design a detailed quality engineering strategy to ensure successful implementation.  

Trend 3. Briskly reach business objectives with test automation 

The organizations surveyed by the WQR mentioned that test automation positively impacts development (48%), requirements (47%), functional testing (46%), and integration testing (45%). 

The WQR also states that it is still challenging for companies to set up automated workflows because of insufficient efforts spent on designing a fit-for-purpose strategy and the lack of its integration into the development process. Because of these factors, they attain the expected benefits only half the time.  

To increase the efficiency of automated testing, try to concentrate on the following high-priority steps: 

1. Hire seasoned test automation experts who know your business well and possess vast technical, communication, and organizational skills. 
2. Carefully plan the implementation strategy considering the scope, tooling, environment, test data, etc., to make it successful.   
3. Build a test automation approach beginning at the requirements development phase to obtain value as early as possible.  
4. Systematically make sure that tools and frameworks are efficient to promptly change or configure them according to the project situation.  
5. Consider the plans related to further product development for years to come, for instance, the integration with third-party services or the expansion of supported platforms. It will help optimize testing efforts from the get-go and simplify the usage of automated workflows. 

Trend 4. Measure and manage the value outcomes 

No matter what innovations you’d like to introduce or trends to follow, I suggest keeping in mind that their application must be appropriate and beneficial. And here’s when value stream management is of help for quality assurance.  

The WQR respondents marked that their QA activities aim to attain business assurance and ensure end-user experience (49%), support all team members to achieve higher quality (45%), and protect brand image and QA automation (42%).  

To improve QA function within Agile or DevOps projects, almost every time, the majority of the surveyed companies apply a value stream mapping technique, which I find highly effective. This is the process of analyzing work and information flows to determine the most and least valuable items and further adjust the workflows to optimize product delivery and meet end-user expectations.  

While doing so, organizations stick to such significant principles as relying on quality engineering to improve each stream (66%), gauging each stream’s value (62%), enhancing their contribution (59%).  

To provide better control over the value of the software development process, companies may: 

1. Rely on value dashboards so that each team member can monitor progress in real time, identify areas for improvement, and make quick, well-considered decisions.  
2. Make sure that all project stakeholders are aware of business objectives and define the expected outcome of quality assurance activities. 
3. Determine value indicators specific to each project and verify that software testing results are linked to these indicators.  

Please find out more about other impactful QA trends that will shape the industry and help generate greater value for your customers in Part 2 of the article.