Tips to conduct automated performance testing earlier in the software development life cycle

Introduction

Performance is an essential aspect of any software application. Automated performance testing helps to test the performance of a system or application and detect performance bottlenecks for optimization. There are various types of performance testing, such as load testing, stress testing, endurance testing, scalability testing, spike testing, and volume testing. Conducting performance testing earlier in the software development life cycle can offer multiple benefits such as identifying performance issues early, faster feedback, improved collaboration, and reduced costs associated with fixing performance issues later on. In this article, we will explore why and how to conduct automated performance testing earlier in the software development life cycle, along with some tips for effective performance testing.

What is automated performance testing?

Performance is critical to any software application. Automated performance testing is designed to test the performance of a system, software, or application under a real load. By using automated performance testing tools, we can simulate different load conditions, detect system performance, and find performance bottlenecks to optimize system performance.

What Are the Types of Performance Testing?

There are several types of performance testing that can be leveraged to test the speed, scalability, stability, and reliability of an application.

Load testing: this type of testing involves increasing the load on the system until it reaches its threshold, helping to identify and optimize performance bottlenecks.

Stress testing: stress testing helps in determining the stability of the system under extreme conditions when the hardware resources are insufficient. soak testing and spike testing are two common types of stress tests.

Endurance testing: as the name suggests, endurance testing measures how well an application performs over an extended period of time.

Scalability testing: this testing helps in measuring an application’s performance when there is a significant increase in workload.

Spike testing: in this type of testing, the app's performance is checked with sudden jumps in workload to see how it handles unexpected spikes.

Volume testing: volume testing checks how an application performs with large amounts of data.

When building a test coverage strategy for performance testing, it's essential to consider where the users are located globally and which platforms or operating systems need to be tested. a test coverage index can help guide decisions about what types of performance testing should be executed and when they should be performed. overall, performance testing plays an important role in ensuring optimal user experience and identifying areas of improvement to make your application perform better.

Why conduct performance testing earlier in the software development life cycle？

Because in traditional waterfall development, performance testing happens near the end of the cycle just before deployment. However, if there are delays in development and functional testing, there may not be enough time for adequate performance testing. Addressing performance issues too late in the development process could result in more difficult and costly problem resolutions, whether related to the code or the system's architecture. Conducting performance testing earlier in the software development life cycle has several benefits:

Early identification of performance issues: By testing performance earlier in the development process, performance issues can be identified and resolved much earlier, before they become more expensive and time-consuming to fix.

Faster feedback: Performance testing early in the development process can provide faster feedback to the development team, enabling them to make changes quickly and avoid performance issues later on.

Improved collaboration: By involving performance testing earlier in the development process, developers and testers can work more closely together to identify and address performance issues, leading to better collaboration and more effective problem-solving.

Reduced costs: By identifying and addressing performance issues earlier in the development process, organizations can reduce the costs associated with fixing performance issues later on.

Overall, the approach can help organizations to build more reliable and performant software, while also reducing costs and improving collaboration within the development team.

How to conduct performance testing earlier in the software development life cycle？

Here are some tips on conduct performance testing earlier in the software development life cycle:

Start with performance testing in the requirements phase: Include performance requirements and goals in the initial project requirements. This ensures that performance is a key consideration from the beginning and sets expectations for the development team.

Use automated performance testing tools: Automated performance testing tools can be used to simulate real-world load and stress conditions, allowing developers to identify performance issues early in the development cycle. These tools can also be integrated into the Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipeline, enabling automated performance tests to be run as part of the build process.

Prioritize performance testing: Make sure that performance testing is given the same priority as functional testing. This means including performance testing in the testing plan and allocating time and resources for it.

Collaborate with other teams: Collaboration between development, testing, and operations teams can help identify performance issues early and ensure that performance testing is integrated into the development process. Teams should work together to define performance requirements, test scenarios, and performance metrics.

Monitor performance in production: Performance monitoring in production can provide valuable insights into how the application performs in the real world. This information can be used to refine performance requirements and inform future performance testing efforts.

By following these tips, you can conduct performance testing earlier in the software development life cycle and improve the quality and performance of your software.