Why “Shift Left” Keeps Failing

Misunderstandings around a vague slogan are holding teams back. Here’s how to get clear and make real progress.

We’ve all been there. You’re in a meeting. Testing comes up as a bottleneck to delivery. There’s talk of too much manual testing, and eventually, someone says it:

“We need to shift left.”

Everyone nods. Everyone agrees. Some even say they’re already trying. But issues still slip through. Developers seem reluctant to work more closely with QAs, worried it’ll slow them down.

And no one stops to ask:
When we say "shift left," do we all mean the same thing?

Usually, we just assume we’re on the same page. But start digging and you’ll find everyone has a slightly different take:

• For some, shift left means testing earlier.

• For others, it’s all about automation.

• Some see it as better collaboration between developers and QAs.

• Others mean continuous testing across the whole software life cycle.

And the thing is - none of these are wrong. We probably need a bit of all of them. But if we don’t stop to clarify what we actually mean, these perspectives never get shared. Everyone walks away thinking they know…