February 2009 - 10 Essentials for Effective Test Automation

Test automation can provide great benefits to the software testing process and improve the quality of the results.... but its use must be justified and its methods effective.

The reasons to automate software testing lie in the pitfalls of manual software testing...

As we all know too well, the average manual software testing program:

- Is slow and costly
- Is difficult to manage
- Does not scale well
- Is not consistent and repeatable

Effective test automation resolves each of these issues, allowing management to:

• Drive down costs
• Bring software to market faster
• Gain critical awareness into QA status

How, then, can test automation be made effective?

The most essential element of effective software test automation is a strong foundation in methodology. Methodology drives tool selection and the rest of the automation process. It also helps to drive the approach to offshoring the “appropriate” pieces of the testing process.

Here is the short list every manager needs to make methodology work for them:

10 Essentials for Effective Test Automation:

1. Know the steps of the software development process and how they relate to each other.
2. Have a solid understanding of the required planning.
3. Understand that software testing is a strategic effort.
4. Commit to giving software testing its own budget and funding.
5. Use the Action Based Testing (ABT) methodology and choose the right enabling technologies that support it.
6. Put in place the right people with the proper skills and training.
7. Separate test design from test automation so that automation does not dominate test design.
8. Lower costs by using less expensive labor than a local team.
9. Integrate global resourcing strategies and best practices.
10. Jumpstart the process with a pre-trained outsourcing partner.

Read Other LogiGear Articles

• Action Figures
• Agile Test Development with ABT
• Automation and Requirements
• Bonus Bugs
• Business Test Policies
• Capitalizing Testware as an Asset
• Getting Automated Testing Under Control
• Is Action Based Testing an Automation Technique?
• Is Test Automation the Same as Programming Tests?
• Key Success Factors for Keyword Driven Testing
• The First Holy Grail of Test Design
• Key Principles of Test Design
• The Potential and Risks of Keyword Based Testing
• The Second Holy Grail of Test Design
• Soap Opera Testing
• Test Automation: Divide and Conquer
• Test Governance
• The Third Holy Grail of Test Design