Automation Adoption

One of the basic challenges with test automation is adoption. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cataloged licenses for a company and found out they already have many different automation software packages, none of which is being used. Traditionally I’ve been told that is because the tools don’t work and that the teams …

Continuous Iteration in Automation

I’ve been teaching a lot lately, was in India for one week, and I’m off to Seattle in two weeks to teach on performance topics. I thoroughly enjoy teaching, it allows me to stay sharp with current trends, and provides a nice break from the “implementation focus” that I generally have day to day.

Successful Automation of Cloud Testing

The Cloud demands that we be as nimble as possible, delivering features and fixes in almost real-time fashion. Both customer and provider rely on software development that can maintain quality while being light on its feet and constantly moving. In addition, Cloud-oriented systems tend to be highly complex and dynamic in structure — more than …

Software Test Automation: Divide and Conquer

Divide and conquer was a strategy successfully employed by ancient Persian kings against their Greek enemies. It is a strategy that can still be used successfully today. Fundamentally, by dividing something into smaller more manageable pieces (in the case of the ancient Persians, they divided the Greek city states), it becomes much more manageable.

Four Drivers for Delivering Software Test Automation Success

Test automation provides great benefits to the software testing process and improves the quality of the results. It improves reliability while minimizing variability in the results, speeds up the process, increases test coverage, and ultimately can provide greater confidence in the quality of the software being tested. However, automation is not a silver bullet. It …

The Test Automation Top 5: Suggested Best Practices

This article was developed from concepts in the book Global Software Test Automation: A Discussion of Software Testing for Executives, by Hung Q. Nguyen, Michael Hacket and Brent K. Whitlock Introduction The top 5 pitfalls encountered by managers employing software Test Automation are: Uncertainty and lack of control Poor scalability and maintainability Low Test Automation …

Common Misconceptions About Software Testing

This article was developed from concepts in the book Global Software Test Automation: Discussion of Software Testing for Executives. Article Synopsis There are many misconceptions about Software Testing. This article deals with the 5 most common misconceptions about how Software Testing differs from other testing. Five Common Misconceptions Some of the most common misconceptions about …