Thanksgiving sales are now not only a Black Friday or a Cyber Monday event but also something that runs during most of November. With such huge volumes of sales happening within a short period of time, the availability and performance of applications is one parameter that is closely tracked.

The adoption of agile—which has taken place within both small teams and massive organizations—has changed the tester’s role. However, that doesn’t mean it’s time for testers to pack up their things and sulk out the door. The “testing is dead” narrative doesn’t tell the whole story.

When automated tests are well-organized and written with the necessary detail, they can be very efficient and maintainable. But designing automated tests that deal with data can be particularly challenging. Tests need certain base data to be available and in a predictable state when they run.

Quality has increasingly become a responsibility for not just one single segment of the team, but the team as a whole. It’s important for each member of a team to have some hand in making sure that what’s being developed works as intended as it goes through each individual progression.