Performance testing is often a barrier to accelerating software delivery. Because you need a production-like environment, performance testing often waits until the entire application is complete. But you shouldn't wait until then to get started. You can begin testing earlier to reduce rework and address issues sooner.

The focus on automation and “continuous everything,” from integration, deployment, and now all the buzz about continuous testing, makes the daily activities of a tester in DevOps challenging. Testers may be used to controlling quality—or thinking they do—but they need to pivot to assuring their teams focus on quality.

When making a transition to agile, it’s important to get a common understanding of what you’re trying to do, of how things are currently done, and of the definition of done. In a value stream analysis, you can identify where major chunks of time are being spent (and why), and then start prioritizing based on value.