Key Insights: State of Testing Report 2020

Though the year of 2020 was a shift in normalcy for all across the globe, the 7th annual State of Testing survey organized by PractiTest and Tea-Time with Testers showed that even in times of extreme hardship, there is more to learn than ever from the testing community – whether in improving the testing ecosystem, understanding how to become better testers, or adapting to rapidly changing circumstances and technologies. The report summarized the survey responses from participants regarding four categories: Personal Information, Education and Training, Testing in Your Organization, and Personal Development.

When it comes to education and training, an increasing number of testers are moving away from entering the field through formal training and institutions, and instead are utilizing online resources, conferences, or peer learning to build their skillsets. Falling in line with previous years’ trends, Agile continues to be the most popular development model, with DevOps and Waterfall coming in second and third, respectively. The usage of CI (Continuous Integration) within all organizational projects has slightly increased in 2020, though overall usage is relatively the same as years’ past (~80%).

Additionally, testing within organizations has seen its own set of trends. User stories, past experience in other testing projects, and bugs from customers have been identified as highly relevant sources of testing information; specifically, how testers identify what tests need to be run or written for testing operations. Non-dedicated testers are also taking a more prevalent role in the formal testing process, with a lower percentage of testing being done by dedicated testers only. Among non-testers who participate in testing in organizations, programmers are the largest group who do so. Lastly, the most commonly cited challenge affecting test management and communication among teams is integrating manual and automation testing, and more organizations are beginning to shift away from more traditional testing, instead adopting shifting testing left and right, as well as testing in production.

Overall, it’s clear the world of testing is continually evolving, allowing testers, teams, and organizations to improve together in the process. To see the complete findings from the 2020 State of Testing survey, read the full report here.