I come from a hardware-software integrated testing background, and I have been exposed to both GUI and non-GUI automation techniques and tools. As you already know, it is a challenging task to balance the needs between the front-end and the back-end related automation tasks, how to integrate it with the human-led testing efforts, where to use automation and where we should not, etc. Fortunately, there are a few guiding principles on automation for testing for beginners, and let us look at those in this blog.
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Aligning to Requirements
Yesterday, while discussing about how a fresh tester should start approaching a project, I wrote about the importance of requirements in detail. I can never overstate the importance of engaging, discussing, asking questions, and validating the requirements as early as possible in the cycle collaborating with the stakeholders and the Product Owner. If you don’t find a seat in the table in these kind of meetings, escalate that to your management and make sure that testing team participates in making sure that the requirements are done right. Getting the requirements right will help in setting the testing goals and objectives right. This will help you identify the most important areas to focus on and ensure that the automation is effective and efficient.
Planning the automation needs
There are several opportunities for automation in the course of testing, and as a Software Tester, you should be very effective in deciding where and how you should introduce automation. A carefully prepared plan or a charter will help you in identifying the key areas where automation can be helpful. Note that automation is not restricted to just GUI, but also helps in API and CLI testing. In addition, there are opportunities for automation for data generation, application status checking, application state configuration and checking, end-to-end system state checking, continuous integration and delivery pipeline oriented automation, etc.
I help organisations in planning their needs, so if you would be interested in availing my services in this area, you can get in touch with me. Also, if you need help coaching in automation for testing for beginners, you could contact me.
Automation Checking Planning
It is very tempting to automate every check possible, and there is a push from management in many organisations to achieve 100% automation. Note that automation checks are not Testing. Testing is an involved activity of validating and verifying through rigorous human process, in which automation is an aid. Having said that, writng clear, concise, and well-structured automation checklist that are easy to understand and maintain will make it easier to identify and fix any problems that are discovered during the automation process.
Data-driven automation checks
Today, a data strategy for software development and testing is inevitable. Software development is done not only based on the design principles, but also based on the data that the software needs to handle. With the advent of tuning the software application to the data needs, it is getting more and more important to have a data strategy when you design applications. Towards that, using data-driven automation techniques to ensure that the checks are repeatable and consistent and can be run with different sets of data are so important. This can help improve the reliability and robustness of the automation checks and the testing process overall.
Monitoring and Tracking Automation
Pretty much all of us would agree that maintaining automation is a painstaking task. If we don’t have a proper strategy in place for automation, quickly it would turn into a nightmare. I know of testing colleagues and professionals who maintain millions of lines of code effortlessly because they have the right strategy and right tools in place, and I know of colleagues who struggle with automation scripts for a single application. It all depends on how you approach it and how and where you use automation, so design your automation strategy very carefully.
Continuous Improvement
It is important to review and continuously improve the automation process to ensure that it remains effective and efficient. Collecting feedback from the team, continuously experimenting with alternative tools and techniques, upgrading to the better and efficient technology, staying up-to-date on latest trends and best practices can all help towards having a solid automation strategy.
Hope this article helps you as a beginner in automation for testing. For any assistance or consulting, please feel free to reach out to me.
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