Shift-everywhere testing
Shift-everywhere testing means acknowledging and practicing testing during all parts of the Software Development Life Cycle. It doesn't just exist on the left (shift-left testing), nor just on the right (shift-right testing). It needs to exist throughout.
“Shift-Everywhere” isn’t another buzzword — it’s an evolved mindset for how testing fits into continuous, distributed, and AI-driven systems.
It’s the acknowledgment that quality can’t exist in one stage of the SDLC anymore.
It has to exist throughout it.
A shift-everywhere methodology is an approach to software development that addresses issues throughout the entire software development lifecycle, from development and testing to deployment and operation. This approach involves integrating testing activities throughout the development process, which helps to create a seamless connection between development, testing, and operation.
In a similar way to shift-left and shift-right strategies, shift-everywhere proposes looking at both the software development and test lifecycle (SDLC/STLC) from the outside. This is to ensure a full view of the system and consider testing and quality throughout.
Scott Kenyon posted a video in which he discussed shift left, taking away from customer focus, and shift right being removed from early quality opportunities. He first suggested we need to 'shift-in' and later refined it to 'shift-everywhere'.
Since then, the term has been used in relation to continuous quality, has been referenced in talks and articles and specifically mentioned in the testing trend, 'Do you understand what is meant by Continuous Quality?' where the following was said:
"The testing community generously shared their thoughts on Continuous Quality, there was definitely a vibe of moving away from the idea of shift-left and more towards:
Scott Kenyon posted a video in which he discussed shift left, taking away from customer focus, and shift right being removed from early quality opportunities. He first suggested we need to 'shift-in' and later refined it to 'shift-everywhere'.
Since then, the term has been used in relation to continuous quality, has been referenced in talks and articles and specifically mentioned in the testing trend, 'Do you understand what is meant by Continuous Quality?' where the following was said:
"The testing community generously shared their thoughts on Continuous Quality, there was definitely a vibe of moving away from the idea of shift-left and more towards:
- Continuous Quality is about shifting everywhere.
- Continuous Quality is not just shifting testing, it’s shifting quality
- Shifting “investment in quality” to the left"
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