Shift-Left Approach for The Right Process Collaboration

This article was written by Mukul Patiar on the Cigniti blog. 

Shifting Left

In this post, we take a look at how we can enable the right processes in order to overcome the obstacles we face in our day-to-day work lives. When being a process enabler, it is important to seek to examine and identify the value and efficiency of the various projects that span across many domains. This ensures the delivery of services with the highest quality, in the most efficient manner. A shift-left approach arrives as a solution for core software services, such as:

-Agile testing.

-Functional testing.

-Performance testing.

-Security testing.

It is crucial to shift left and make not just the testing, but also the progression of a build through the stages of the delivery, continuous and automated. In order to accomplish such a feat, it is necessary to invest in defining a stable version of the quality of all the deliverables across the various aspects of software testing. It is equally important to change the ways of development, and their workings, so as to implement automation as a part of the entire process. It is also important to invest in the creation of test automation assets because they assure rigid governance across the entire end-to-end testing process. Manual processes need to be analyzed and explicit decisions should be made, whether to eliminate it altogether, automate a large part of it, or continue the manual work.

Enabling Quality at Speed

It is critical for the delivery pipeline, which integrates the entire build, test automation, and deployment, to be accelerated. There are different aspects of test automation, hailing from various different sources. Bringing them together can be a challenge. Many teams deal with a set of several automation tools that have evolved with time. Developers and testers have actively worked on many tools that have been constantly helping them perform their jobs with relative ease. However, it is important to integrate these various divisions, keeping in mind the repetitive usage and acceleration of overall delivery.

How Do You Define a Shift-Left Approach for a Process Enabler?

The shift-left approach is a method or process that is initiated at the early stage of any project so as to overcome the challenges. The early initiation helps tremendously in effectively enabling continuous improvement for process implementation. In essence, it intends to form a rigid structure and avoid the eleventh-hour implementation. Implementation at the last minute could potentially lead to major non-compliance within the organization or by clients, which in turn, may lead to the cancellation of a contract.

Shift-left is a practice in the IT industry to identify and focus on quality, work on prevention instead of detection, save rework effort, and identify unknown risk earlier than ever before. To effectively examine this initial prevention, rather than later detection in projects or delegation functions, there are techniques and methods that should be implemented by the process enabler. One such technique that the process enablers should concentrate on is the way team is working, instead of on what they are working on.

Now we look at the concept of Agile.

Agile primarily helps increase visibility, minimize risks, and accelerate time to market. Along the same lines, its upgraded avatar is DevOps. A process enabler involves various stages of the execution of the project, such as the kick-off meeting, sprint planning, daily stand-up call, backlogs, sprint call, and retrospective, so that more questions can be asked, and so that teams are helped to solve the problem. In this way, processes are defined accordingly, instead of giving expert advice. The enabler should conduct facilitation carefully to intervene in a team to help accomplish goals and not to make any judgments.

Advantages of Effectively Enabling The Right Process

-The team improves their thinking skills.

-Short and productive meetings.

-Thorough analyses of problems.

-Building relationship skills within the team.

-Knowledge transfer and making the right decisions.

-Improvisation of the quality of service provided to the client.

-Reduction of effort, increase in quality, and customer satisfaction.

Utilizing a process enabler is the right approach when it comes to enhancing team effectiveness, shortening meeting times, and addressing internal conflicts. It helps teams work more collaboratively and its effects can last long after its initiation or implementation.

A process enabler also needs skilled resources, those who know their way around the functionality, who are aware of the complexities and who are willing to extend their support. Lastly, the right kind of process collaboration is an irreplaceable service that is required from an experienced consultant.