Is Your Test Automation on Track? Maintenance is the key

Automated test scripts require ongoing care and maintenance. Unmaintainble or hard-to-maintain automated test scripts are in vain.

The image is taken from this youtube video

The above picture is real, and it was not taken in a third-world country (or the last century). This is the ND&W Railway in Ohio, USA! See this video for action, 😅

trainfanatics.com named it “The Worst Track We’ve Seen!”:

“Poorly maintained tracks are very dangerous as they are known to cause derailment!”
“This railroad has seen over 50 years of neglect!”

I have seen many test automation failures (in fact, most of them), and the №1 cause: “The team failed to maintain the automated test scripts”. Some engineers admitted it, while others came up with some excuses.

As a matter of fact, creating automated tests is only a minor part (~10%) of the test automation effort. The other 90% consists of

• Refining/stabilizing the test script
  Check out this article: Working Automated Test ≠ Good Reliable Test
• Ongoing Maintenance of the test scripts, while the app changes frequently
  Application changes, test data changes, server infrastructure changes, …, etc