Unveiling the Roadmap to Test Automation Success: Ensuring ROI

In today’s IT landscape, there’s a significant emphasis on automating testing methodologies. Despite having a dedicated team for test automation, achieving the anticipated ROI has been a challenge, but addressing these challenges strategically can significantly enhance its effectiveness.

We will discuss challenges and strategies that can be helpful to overcome these challenges.

Selecting Right Tool for Automation:

The market offers a myriad of automation tools, each with its strengths and limitations. There’s a tendency to align with the latest tools and technologies to foster continuous learning within the team. However, this enthusiasm can become a bottleneck if we don’t conduct thorough proof of concepts (POCs) on various tools, considering factors like team size and skill set.

Strategic Solution: Prioritize conducting a POC or trial period to assess how well the tool integrates with existing workflows. This allows the team to evaluate its usability, compatibility, and effectiveness before committing fully. Initially, explore broader aspects such as reporting capabilities, integration with notifications, compatibility with cloud servers for test execution, parallel execution feasibility, and other major functionalities. It’s important to note that the latest tool might not always be the best fit for your specific requirements.

Avoid Over Automation :

Sometimes, we think automating everything will minimize manual efforts. But keeping a boundary is necessary. This excessive automation leads to increased feedback turnaround time. Rather than streamlined efficiency, we found ourselves trapped in a cycle of delayed feedback.

Strategic Solution: It’s imperative to prioritize critical end-to-end flows for automation instead of striving for complete automation coverage. Rather than fragmenting tests into independent and granular units, consider organizing automation around user journeys.

Eg. In an Order Checkout flow, for integration testing, a focus on the entire end-to-end journey — from adding items to the cart to applying coupons and placing the order — can provide comprehensive coverage without excessively fragmenting the automation process.

By adopting this approach, we can ensure that automation efforts are channeled into the most impactful areas, optimizing resources and minimizing the complexities arising from over-automation.

CI/CD Integration on Priority :

Despite our adherence to agile methodologies, our approach to automation sometimes mirrors a waterfall model. We tend to prioritize backlog test scenario automation before considering CI/CD integration.

Strategic Solution: A more effective strategy would involve integrating CI/CD processes early on. I recommend initiating integration just after completing one end-to-end journey. This shift ensures that the benefits of automation start accruing right from the initial stages.

Additionally, coupling unit and integration tests with development and creating a sequential pipeline for functional tests can be beneficial.

Implementing Push and PR events to automatically trigger scripts upon code merging into the main branch can promote shift left testing. This fosters a culture where quality becomes a shared responsibility across the team.

Follow Test Pyramid :

Repetitive testing at both the API and UI levels using identical test cases can lead to redundancy and inefficiency.

Strategic Solution: Ensure that tests are aligned with the respective business logic where they’re implemented. When validations occur at the API level, it’s advisable to craft test cases at that same level, reaping the benefits of cost and time efficiency.

As an example, the expense of scripting two user journeys at the Integration Test level for Order Checkout — distinguishing between product quantities of one and two — can be excessive. It’s more efficient to handle this distinction solely at the API level. At the UI level, focusing on a single flow with a randomly selected quantity is more practical.

In summary, navigating the challenges in test automation requires a strategic approach. By prioritizing critical aspects, integrating processes early, and aligning tests with business logic, organizations can pave the way for efficient and impactful test automation, ultimately leading to improved ROI and enhanced product quality.

Happy Learning !!