Topic: when to automate testing

Message

   When to automate testing?

In a survey reported in August 2005 

 two out of every five organisations that had invested in test
automation tools admitted to not using them. The question wasn't asked,
but it's likely that a substantial proportion of the other three fifths
weren't getting much value out of their investment. 

Test automation isn't a magic cure-all for everything that's ailing in 

our test activities.  Testing is a rather chaotic activity in most 

software shops, and automating it runs the risk of turning it from 

slow chaos to high-speed (and much more destructive) chaos.  See the 

two following articles:

Is your organisation ready to automate?

There are several related major reasons why test automation ware often 

becomes shelfware within a period of about three months, but the 

commonest is lack of technical readiness for the minute attention to 

detail that test execution tools mostly require.  Closely related is 

the need for financial support to provide this technical readiness; in 

the Methods and Tools survey mentioned above, the commonest reason for 

dropping automation tools was that "managers had the budget to buy the 

tools, but did not consider the budget and time needed to train people 

in the tools and use them in real projects." 

In any case, test execution tools are not necessarily the best place 

to start.  Bringing testing under good administrative control with a 

"test management tool" -- one that helps manage the configuration and 

status relationships between specifications (or software features) and 

tests -- may be a better starting point.  The following book reviews 

automation assistance for every major testing activity, from the 

Business Analysis phase to the Test Program Review and Assessment 

Phase.  It's also an excellent choice for an organisation wanting to 

bring its testing under good control before undertaking automation (in 

fact, it's one of the best books available on organising the test 

function, automated or no):

Author	Message
vidhya Senior Member Joined: 24Mar2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 114	Topic: when to automate testing Posted: 28Mar2007 at 4:26am
	When to automate testing? In a survey reported in August 2005 two out of every five organisations that had invested in test automation tools admitted to not using them. The question wasn't asked, but it's likely that a substantial proportion of the other three fifths weren't getting much value out of their investment. Test automation isn't a magic cure-all for everything that's ailing in our test activities. Testing is a rather chaotic activity in most software shops, and automating it runs the risk of turning it from slow chaos to high-speed (and much more destructive) chaos. See the two following articles: Is your organisation ready to automate? There are several related major reasons why test automation ware often becomes shelfware within a period of about three months, but the commonest is lack of technical readiness for the minute attention to detail that test execution tools mostly require. Closely related is the need for financial support to provide this technical readiness; in the Methods and Tools survey mentioned above, the commonest reason for dropping automation tools was that "managers had the budget to buy the tools, but did not consider the budget and time needed to train people in the tools and use them in real projects." In any case, test execution tools are not necessarily the best place to start. Bringing testing under good administrative control with a "test management tool" -- one that helps manage the configuration and status relationships between specifications (or software features) and tests -- may be a better starting point. The following book reviews automation assistance for every major testing activity, from the Business Analysis phase to the Test Program Review and Assessment Phase. It's also an excellent choice for an organisation wanting to bring its testing under good control before undertaking automation (in fact, it's one of the best books available on organising the test function, automated or no):
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