Softcon 2015: Test Automation – Myths and Benefits
Mike Togle
November 26, 2015
This is a summary of the talk given by Pointwest’s Kim Deloria on Testing Automation given during the second day of the 2015 Philippine Software Industry Conference, or SoftCon.
Testing Automation in General
One of the most powerful cases for Testing Automation is in its ability to prevent costly mistakes. In the talk, Kim Deloria tells the story of how a simple miscommunication leads to the loss of $327 million for NASA.
Robust testing would have seen the problem at the outset, costing far, far less if it did. But increasing complexity in a system means a geometric increase in the testing that needs to be done. This could lead to less robust testing, which in turn increases the likelihood of defects being missed.
Here is where the primary allure of testing automation appears: that it promises to reduce the effort required to do the test cases.
“If it isn’t immediately obvious to everyone, it actually delivers on that promise. Automation if done right radically improves productivity.”
The Benefits of Test Automation
“With the machines doing the heavy lifting, the manual testers will have lots of free time on their hands.”
But this doesn’t mean your testers will be idle. Instead, the saved time translates to an increased focus on priority scenarios. This ensures that the application being tested is “as bulletproof as it gets.”
“Automation reduces the cost of failure by increasing test coverage so that defects can be found before they reach production”
Automation Myths and Are You Ready for Automation?
There is a tendency, too, for people to expect a lot from Test Automation, treating it as some sort of magic bullet to cure all the ills in a product’s code.
Mr. Deloria presented four myths commonly associated with Test Automation:
- Automation will make testing easier
- Immediate Schedule Reduction
- Tool Ease of Use
- One Hundred Percent Test Coverage
He also gives five points to ponder before an organization goes into automation:
- Do you have management support?
- Is the application stable?
- Do you have an automation tool?
- Do you have the budget?
- Do you have a plan?
SoftCon is the annual technology and innovation summit organized by the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA). Pointwest is in its third year of supporting SoftCon, and is the second year that the company was in charge of the event’s mobile events engagement application, EESY.
Independent Software Testing is one of the services Pointwest offers. Using international-standard processes, Pointwest helps make sure that your software will be bug- and error-free.
