Predictions about software testing future

In this article, we’re going to shift our focus from today to tomorrow. Diving into predictions for the future of software testing.

1. Roles Will Get Blurrier, Then Clearer

The rise of agile software development methodologies has led to a lot of confusion and misconceptions regarding the role of the software tester.

In the near future, the situation is only going to get more complicated. That’s because agile software testing is quickly becoming the standard, rather than a more advanced approach for software development teams. As that trend picks up speed, many business leaders will likely come to embrace the idea that, when it comes to agile, everyone is a tester — even though that’s really not the case, and it’s certainly not the ideal way to optimize agile processes.

However, eventually agile will truly become ubiquitous and companies in every sector will gain a higher degree of understanding and mastery of these techniques. When that happens, the role played by testers on agile teams will become clearer, and testers themselves won’t need to convince the C-level of their importance. That leads to our next prediction…

2. Software Tester Expectations Will Rise

This trend is already in the works, but tester expectations will grow even greater in the future.

If you’re in the software testing field, you need to learn about and embrace new enterprise software testing tools and strategies, software testers must become more techie.

And this is not just a question of technical know-how. In the coming years, many company leaders will expect software testers to play a more assertive role in guiding software quality assurance and development broadly. Today, speaking up and offering proactive insight will allow software testers to stand out. In the near future, though, those who are unable or unwilling to adapt to this new, higher level of expectation will struggle.

3. Automation’s Popularity Will Grow

By necessity, automation’s impact on the software testing field is going to expand. The fast-growing amount of data utilized in software testing and development will make it impossible for companies to maintain efficiency while continuing to rely heavily on manual practices.

Automation will instead become the default approach for many elements of software testing. Currently, automation is a challenge for many software testing teams, as it is often unclear which situations are best suited for automated approaches. This will not last, though – as automation becomes more common and refined, companies will start to apply these tools whenever possible to improve efficiency and accuracy in their testing processes.