Advanced Testing of Systems-of-Systems, Volume 2

13Future Testing Challenges

We have seen many aspects of systems-of-systems testing, although we have only scratched the surface. Many challenges lie ahead for the future and, as Niels Bohr mentioned, “Predictions are very difficult, especially if they concern the future.” However, let us try to do this perilous exercise and list some challenges below.

13.1. Technical debt

Technical debt is a reality in any development project. It appears because we make choices, sometimes take shortcuts or postpone updates. Technical debt is not just a problem for developers; it exists at all levels, including testing. Here is a list – not exhaustive – of usual technical debts:

– Specifications, requirements or user stories that are ambiguous, contradictory, outdated or missing, or even obsolete and which have not been reviewed (or removed if obsolete) before being provided to the development and test teams. These functionalities will have to be reviewed, corrected or – in the case of obsolete elements – removed and retested resulting in additional costs.

– Code, architecture of components and microservices, modularity and coupling of components, databases (relational or NoSQL), organization of data with or without orchestrators, distribution of components between the frontend, the backend and the cloud, etc. Any modification of the architecture and the organization which underlies the system will require modifications and tests, therefore additional costs.

– Absent test conditions or test ...