How do you handle hardware testing in agile and DevOps environments?

1 Align testing with business goals

The first step to handle hardware testing in agile and DevOps environments is to align your testing strategy with your business goals and customer needs. You need to define what success looks like for your hardware product, what are the key performance indicators (KPIs), and what are the minimum viable features (MVPs) that you need to deliver. You also need to communicate these goals and expectations to your stakeholders, team members, and customers, and get their feedback and input throughout the development process.

2 Automate testing as much as possible

The second step to handle hardware testing in agile and DevOps environments is to automate your testing as much as possible, especially for repetitive, low-level, and regression tests. Automation can help you save time, reduce human errors, and increase test coverage and consistency. You can use tools and frameworks such as Jenkins, Robot Framework, LabVIEW, or Arduino to automate your hardware testing tasks. However, automation is not a silver bullet, and you still need to perform manual testing for complex, high-level, and exploratory tests that require human judgment and creativity.

3 Integrate testing with development

The third step to handle hardware testing in agile and DevOps environments is to integrate your testing with your development cycle, rather than treating it as a separate phase or activity. You need to adopt a test-driven development (TDD) approach, where you write your tests before you write your code, and use them to guide your design and implementation decisions. You also need to implement continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) practices, where you test your code and hardware components every time you make a change, and deploy them to production as soon as they pass the tests.

4 Collaborate with cross-functional teams

The fourth step to handle hardware testing in agile and DevOps environments is to collaborate with cross-functional teams that include developers, testers, designers, engineers, and customers. You need to break down the silos and barriers between different roles and disciplines, and foster a culture of shared responsibility, feedback, and learning. You also need to use tools and platforms that enable collaboration and communication, such as Slack, Trello, GitHub, or Jira. By collaborating with cross-functional teams, you can improve your hardware testing quality, efficiency, and innovation.

5 Adapt testing to changing requirements

The fifth step to handle hardware testing in agile and DevOps environments is to adapt your testing to changing requirements and feedback from your customers and stakeholders. You need to embrace change as an opportunity to improve your hardware product, rather than as a threat to your plan. You also need to use agile testing techniques, such as exploratory testing, user acceptance testing, or usability testing, to validate your assumptions, discover new issues, and verify your customer satisfaction. By adapting your testing to changing requirements, you can deliver hardware products that meet and exceed your customer expectations.

6 Learn from testing results

The sixth and final step to handle hardware testing in agile and DevOps environments is to learn from your testing results and use them to improve your hardware product and process. You need to collect, analyze, and visualize your testing data, such as test cases, defects, performance, or reliability metrics, and use them to identify gaps, risks, or opportunities for improvement. You also need to conduct retrospectives and reviews with your team and customers, and use them to share feedback, lessons learned, and best practices. By learning from your testing results, you can enhance your hardware testing maturity, quality, and value.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?