subject: Test Automation: Way to Perfected Products [print this page] Test Automation: Way to Perfected Products
Test automation effort, often confronts a redundant question, "What is your test automation strategy?", and then an even more redundant answer surfaces, "c'mon, our strategy is to automate everything!" It is unfortunate that managers blindly regurgitate the 100% automation mantra or similar incantations such as "no manual testing" popular among agile pundits. Companies providing software product engineering services go through these notions of uncertainty every now and then. Nonetheless, the companies whose profit margin depends upon successful product development outsourcing really ponder upon the aforesaid subject.
However, a goal of 100% automation is not a test strategy; it is a fantasy! Automating everything is not practical or realistic. Perhaps the single biggest problem with most test automation efforts is lack of a practical strategy. A practical test automation strategy is one that provides a pragmatic solution to address specific business needs with well-defined, measurable goals based upon realistic expectations. Companies indulged in product development outsourcing must consider this in order to give top class software product engineering services.
Companies providing software product engineering services while deploying Test automation strategy must have realistic expectations. The majority of the 5 -15% of the bugs exposed by test automation in production environments are regressions. It has been never seen that increased automation reduces the overall development cycle nor will test automation eliminate testers. In realistic terms, Test automation identifies stress issues such as mean time to failure (MTTF) and mean time between failures (MTBF). One requires test automation to establish baseline measures such as BVT suites or regression suites. Test automation is a pragmatic solution for load any type of load testing or other forms of concurrency testing. This is a centrifugal concept emphasized in product development outsourcing to provide impeccable software product engineering services.
Finally, a good test automation strategy must have measurable goals so we clearly understand what success looks like or identifies the areas of improvement. Occasionally testing teams set goals of automating n% of existing tests. This really doesn't make much sense because it doesn't take into account logical decisions of what tests should be automated because not all tests need to be or should be automated. So some redundant tests or run-once type tests are automated. This is not the best use of limited testing resources, and hence must not be practiced while product development outsourcing. Goals for test automation should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely (SMART). Set short term and long range SMART goals for your test automation effort.
Test automation is expensive. Testers have a lot of work to do in a very limited timeframe, so it is important that testing resources are used effectively. A well defined test automation strategy will establish clear goals, set expectations, and provide practical, automated solutions. The folks over at Impetus Infotech are the best when it comes to advice and research data on R&D and product development outsourcing as one of the frontrunners in software product engineering services.
