Social testing: A framework to support adoption of continuous delivery by small medium enterprises

Abstract

Continuous delivery (CD) represents a challenge for software test teams, because of the continuous introduction of new features and feedback from customers. We consider testing in a framework where users are encouraged to report defects through social or other incentive schemes. Using an enterprise dataset, we address the question of which types of defects can best be found in the field, allowing in-house test resources to be refocused. Validation of these touch points ultimately interweaves both customer and business needs. The proposed framework is one which can help small to medium software businesses, which typically have limited resources to test and release software via CD.