The Problem with Test Automation
Wherever you look, you will notice that almost everything around you is automated. Your coffee maker, for instance, serves coffee every morning requiring little effort or time from you. Another is your automated car, which makes driving a lot easier and safer for you and your family. These are just some of the few automated things we enjoy in life nowadays. Unfortunately, automation is not always good for some people. Software designers and clients often battle their way out in solving the woes of software test automation.
What exactly is testing automation? Well, it starts with making software. When a program is ready to go, it must first pass through a variety of meticulous and complex tasks. Much as cars need to undergo quality control, software products, like the one used by many accountants, must also pass a series of tests.
But unlike Henry Ford’s popular assembly line quality control approach, software writers and vendors cannot and should not implement in-house software testing primarily because of some ethical issues. How can you assure someone that the product is of good quality knowing that the developer is doing the test for its own product? This is why software customers opt to either have their own testing department or hire a team of third party software testers.
Even so, software customers still experience some difficulties with automated testing. Nothing still beats the manual stuff. However, reality tells us that some testing tasks are just so boring and tedious to work on. To combat this dilemma, automated testing may be introduced, bringing with it both the advantages and disadvantages of the process.
The worst thing about automated testing is not its price, but the difficulties it brings to the client and the tester. A very popular method that testers use in automation tests is the record and playback approach. It is popular because it is not helpful. Here is why.
The record and playback method requires scripting that is often too complex to handle. Every time there are changes in the data, the testers must also change the script, which eats up time and money. The scripts in the record-playback method are also messy. Windows, messages, and other sorts of pop-ups appear out of nowhere, but do not really suggest anything good.
In some cases, problems arise not because of automated testing but because of the lack of understanding and cooperation from the testing team. Testers receive tasks for which they do not have adequate background or they are simply too lazy to work on a redundant task. If the company chooses to have its own testing department, here are tips to motivate your testers.
Give the tester enough time and space to work on his testing task. Do not overload him with work. Be clear with your goal and make sure that you and your testers are on the same boat. This means that you have to ensure that your people understand the purpose of your work. Lastly, train them. There is nothing wrong with getting your staff training, even if it is only for testing purposes.
The idea is to make the most out of the opportunity to use test automation. Script problems are easy to deal with. Unlike dealing with staff-related problems, a simple debugging can help you fix your scripting problems. This clearly tells us that companies can still use automated testing alongside manual tests, provided they will do away with unhelpful options as well as motivate their testing team.
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