Optimize application performance testing
Faced with growing demand for new applications or updates, development cycles are under pressure. They are becoming shorter and shorter, and performance tests designed to validate applications are no exception to the rule. Developers and testers are faced with a challenge that puts them under pressure: to produce and test applications quickly and efficiently. They need to rethink the way they do things. Read all our articles on the challenges of IT supervision.
The tester's bottleneck
In the past, testers had up to 3 months to test applications and provide feedback to developers. Today, this back-and-forth between development and QA has become virtually impossible. Testers often only have half a day to carry out their performance tests. Even if the applications to be tested are not as large as they used to be, everything moves much faster.
The tester's problem then becomes: how to avoid becoming a bottleneck in the application development cycle? Agile methods and the V-cycle provide some solutions, but they are not always sufficient. Applications need to be testable right from the development stage.
Neoload, a supervision software specially developed to test the performance of mobile applications, has made this issue its DNA. Neoload enables developers and testers to work in parallel, right from the development phase of an application. Exchanges take place in real time, and the classic cycle - development, QA and production phase - is optimized. The tester's bottleneck is thus avoided or at least minimized.
Test as you go
The need to shorten application development cycles is driven by growing market demand. Business teams want their applications up and running faster and faster. As for users, they have very little patience. If an application doesn't perform, they won't come back. So the pressure falls on the developer and then on the QA.
This is why methods such as Shift Left and DevOps have been developed: to enable performance tests to be carried out right at the start of development, even when phase 1 is underway. And also, to erase the barriers that previously existed between those who do the development and those who do the testing. To do this, you need to test an application 's performance right from the outset, as closely as possible to real-life conditions.
This is one of Neoload's great strengths: it enables the creation of virtual users to simulate real-life use cases. In this way, testers and developers can, for example, observe application behavior and response times when several users are connected. In this way, Neoload will streamline the development cycle from the outset, enabling the identification of technical problems that would probably only have been identified very late in the testing phase. Or even only during the production phase.
Pressure from the business
Today, mobile applications need to be updated on a daily, or at least weekly, basis. E-commerce sites, for example, are obliged to offer their customers new applications on a regular basis. And let's not forget that the application has also become a channel for communicating with users. Marketing campaigns, promotions, etc. are often carried out via the app.
And these actions will only increase in volume and recurrence. Development cycles, already very tight, will soon be even tighter. They will be virtually just-in-time. The development-as-you-go approach will therefore play an essential role in the deployment of future applications.
It will enable problems to be identified earlier. It will mechanically help to reduce development costs by avoiding, for example, an unsuitable application reaching the QA stage and being rejected. To achieve this, you need to be able to easily create and design numerous test scripts. This is what Neoload offers, thanks to its dynamic, easy-to-use interface.
The various customer path scenarios are quickly integrated and made available to all. Thanks to this functionality, more tests can be created more quickly. This enables continuous validation of application performance. What's more, Neoload's reporting system provides easy-to-read results, enabling rapid corrective action to be taken.
In the face of market pressure, the development cycle for a mobile application is set to become even shorter. Developers and testers will have even less time to optimize the performance of applications before they go into production. As a result, they will need to exchange information very early on in the process, and work together on every stage of development. That's how they'll be able to continue delivering applications with the best user experience.
Article translated from French