To Automate or Not to Automate: Factors to Consider Before You Do
Test automation can create more effective teams by enabling faster feedback loops for products, quicker time to market, and increased test coverage. You may be wondering if test automation is right for your project. Read on to find out.
By Kemoy Doyley
Automation is no longer the stuff of fiction — from on-demand snack machines to paws-free doggy doors. According to Gartner, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) was estimated to be a 1.3 billion dollar industry as of 2019 — that trend has accelerated in recent years. As more DevOps teams continue to explore automation, you may also be considering whether to do the same.
By the end of this article, you will have the insight to decide whether automation is suitable for your software project.
As a quality assurance consultant who has practiced the methods of both manual and automated testing, I understand what factors make a project the ideal candidate for automation. In this article, I share some of the most important factors to consider before beginning an automation effort.
What is test automation?
Test automation is a method of software testing that uses automation tools to execute tests with minimum manual effort. The results of these tests are then compared against pre-defined benchmarks. Teams generally introduce test automation to address issues such as repetitive and time consuming manual work and to process huge amounts of test data.
Why choose test automation?
The success of any software product depends on how efficiently several teams are able to work together. Test automation can create more effective teams by enabling faster feedback loops for products, quicker time to market, and increased test coverage.
The more frequently you test, the more likely you’ll want to consider automation.
Factors to consider before automation
Here are some of the most important factors to consider before beginning an automation effort.
1. Is your project stable?
One of the factors to consider is how stable or mature your project is. To begin an automation effort, you must have the significant features of the project already developed.
Automation works best when your project has core functionality, and has made measurable progress in key areas without being prone to frequent changes and overhauls. You’ll probably want to wait on automation if you’re beginning a completely new effort, however, your product can be considered mature and stable without necessarily being considered “legacy” as long as your codebase is solid.
2. Do you have sufficient test coverage?
An effective test coverage assessment can help answer the questions, “What are we testing?” and “How much are we testing?”
Before beginning automation, ensure you implement tests that sufficiently cover all areas of your project. If tests are lacking, automation should not be considered. Manual testing is great to use in the early stages of your project to assess your test coverage. If you are unsure about your test coverage, start here.
3. How often will you run tests?
Once you have sufficient test coverage, examine how often you’re testing based on what the project demands. If your project runs tests one to three times per month, you may have a hard time justifying the need for automation. However, if tests deploy multiple times per week and require regression testing, you should consider automation.
The more frequently you test, the more likely you’ll want to consider automation.
4. Do you have enough resources?
Let’s suppose you’ve checked off all the boxes thus far, and your project has met all of its requirements. Now you must examine whether you have the resources needed to continue. Research and acquire the best tools and frameworks to use for your automation, and determine if you have capable engineering talent on board. If your current team does not have sufficient resources, you must decide how best to proceed. Your options include upskilling the current team or hiring outside professionals to get it done for you.
5. Is automation worth it?
After you consider the previous factors, decide whether this effort has benefits — and whether those benefits are significant. The effort must save your team ample amounts of time, free up your team to focus their talents on more important tasks, and save you money. If the effort is projected to accomplish all of the above benefits, that is a plus. At the end of the day, the return on an effort undertaken should be at least equal to — but preferably greater than — the effort itself.
Closing thoughts
As you begin to test the boundaries and possibilities of automation, be sure to complete an assessment of your manual testing efforts. Ensure your project is stable, has adequate tests and coverage, and has sufficient resources available. Determine the value of automation for your project by using this article as a starting point to guide your assessment.
If you’re ready to get started with your automation project, be sure to check out our AI-powered QA test management tool which does the hard work for you.
If you are unsure about performing an automation assessment yourself, QualityWorks has a team of experts that can conduct a strategic assessment of your project or organization; and work with you to identify the opportunities and requirements of your organization. Contact us to learn more.
About the Author
Kemoy Doyley is an ISTQB® certified consultant at QualityWorks Consulting Group.He specializes in manual and automated testing with a background in developing and testing web applications. Kemoy is enjoying the learning process and is constantly stretching for new ways to make an impact in the testing community.
