What it means, why people like it, when it happens, who does it, how to do it, and where things tend to go sideways
Since 2009, the Test Pyramid has given engineering teams an excuse to under-invest in end-to-end coverage. The feeling was that only a few critical areas were worth the time, effort, or expense. But new services and technologies have lowered those barriers, and the teams that take advantage of them ship faster, provide a better experience, and ultimately are more competitive.
The big idea in “shifting left” is moving QA earlier in your development process to find bugs before they impact the roadmap or the customer experience. Many companies take that to mean developers should write E2E tests—but we can tell you that shifting QA onto your developers ends up costing more in the end.
If you don't have automated tests yet, getting started can feel daunting. In this guide we explore three common pitfalls companies face, and provide solutions for how to avoid them.
