Discover the biggest challenges in automation testing, experienced even by seasoned practitioners. When it comes to automation testing, most businesses excitedly say “yes” until they are told it’s more “yes, maybe, no” than simply “yes”.
So below, let’s address 5 of the most common challenges your business will face in automation testing.
I Made a Mistake – I Was Wrong
“Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)”…Our society’s problem is that it’s considered weak or out of integrity if you change your mind about something or admit that you made a mistake. This is especially true in politics, but is it so evil to change your mind? Sometimes new information comes to light, or perhaps you realize you overlooked some information or gained a new perspective and, therefore, change your mind. Somehow, we often get invested in a previous decision or mindset for various reasons (and biases) and perhaps don’t want to see or even seek out information or opinions that may impact a previous idea or decision. We hope you enjoy this article about the challenges we often run across in software testing, but we mostly want to help you successfully face these challenges!
 | Thinking automation can do it all – “I want 100% automation.” |
One of the most common things clients ask us to work on for them is test automation, and we’ve become quite skilled at doing so in various tools, environments, and domains. The one thing that clients often do is set goals for percent automation, sometimes even at 100%. The ultimate goal is to get rid of human beings, press a button and let it run automatically every time we do a build. Convincing clients that they can not automate everything is one of the biggest challenges in automation testing. And especially when upper management expects to save on costs with more automation. Because it still takes humans to build the automation and run it. And, of course, automation cannot do it all. Indeed, some functions and features are not suitable for automation.
| Not having the right people doing the automation |
We were recently asked by a client to give coaching on a specific toolset using automation on a client’s application. Our first question was, “What are your expectations and the skills of your employees that you want to do the automation?” We found that they had been sold a tool emphasizing the record and play features making it seem as easy as 1-2-3. Indeed, much automation can be done using record and play. However, building scalable and reusable test automation requires more than record and play capabilities. It also requires experience and expertise in abstraction and parameterization as well as knowledge and hands-on practice in some basic programming concepts.
| Lack of test automation strategy and framework |
Other challenges in automation testing include a need for proper guidance and strategy from businesses. Many times our clients tell us in that many words: “Do the scripts; that’s all we want”, “How many scripts did you write this week?”, “Can we finish in 3 months?”. The problem is that when you go for volume alone, you may sacrifice developing a suitable framework that is scalable and maintainable in the long term. Think of it this way, if you build a house with no plan and keep adding on rooms one at a time, what would your home look like?
| Not automating the right things |
In addition to not building a scalable automation framework, you don’t want to forget the primary goal of automation: finding defects. You also want to find defects in the software functions that matter the most to your users. So, while you may be concerned about the volume of test scripts and the skills of your staff in writing scripts, don’t forget to prioritize what should be automated. Start simple by examining the functions used most by your users. Next, take those functions and determine which ones are most critical. Then with this prioritized list, look at the ones most easily automated. In other words, automate the right things according to a priority that matters for you and your users.
| Having unrealistic expectations |
The last main challenge in automation testing is that; in addition to:
❒ thinking that you can automate all testing,
❒ that you don’t need skills for test automation,
❒ and that you don’t understand the importance of building scalable and maintainable automation;
management’s expectations may be that automation can replace humans. It can replace humans in doing mundane and repetitive tests that are frequently accessed by your users and thus important. But management must remember that humans are still needed to do and maintain the automation. Although artificial intelligence and machine learning are moving in this direction, it’s still not there. Additionally, when new features and functions are added, you don’t have time to automate testing for them, nor is it suitable to do so, as they may change.
Mistakes are new information
Let’s return to the first paragraph about making mistakes. We all make them. What’s most important is that we think of the mistake as new information to make another decision moving forward. We’ve seen many organizations reboot their automation efforts multiple times. Some of the biggest reasons related to those mistakes above include:
- Tool not suitable for the staff
- Framework not scalable
- Automating just for the sake of automating without a clear objective
If you’ve found that you are facing one of these challenges in automation testing, don’t be ashamed. And if you want to avoid facing them in the future, consider working with XBOSoft. In the last 15 years, we’ve learned a ton about test automation and have made mistakes too. So we want to help you avoid them.
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