Process Patterns
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Process patterns show how the test automation process should be set up or how it can be improved. The table below gives a list of the Process patterns with a short description. The Process Patterns Mind Map shows which other patterns are used by the process patterns.
[1] Suggested by Lisa Crispin
| Pattern |
Description |
|---|---|
| ASK FOR HELP |
Ask for help instead of wasting time trying to do everything yourself. |
| AUTOMATE WHAT'S NEEDED |
Automate what the developers or the testers need, even if it isn't tests! |
| CELEBRATE SUCCESS |
When you have reached an important milestone, it’s celebration time. |
| CHECK-TO-LEARN |
Let new team members learn by checking the health of the existing automation testware |
| DOCUMENT THE TESTWARE |
Document the automation scripts and the test data |
| FULL TIME JOB |
Arrange for the test automation team to be available full time. |
| GOOD DEVELOPMENT PROCESS |
Use good development practices for test code; the same as developers (should) use for production code. |
| GOOD PROGRAMMING PRACTICES |
Use the same good programming practices as in software development. |
| KILL THE ZOMBIES |
Regularly delete or archive test cases, scripts or test data that are not used. Make sure that tests are actually testing something. |
| LAZY AUTOMATOR |
Lazy people are the best automation engineers. |
| LEARN FROM MISTAKES |
Use mistakes to learn to do better next time. |
| LOOK AHEAD |
Keep in touch with the tester, automation and development community in order to stay informed about new tools, methods, patterns etc. |
| LOOK FOR TROUBLE |
Keep an eye on possible problems in order to solve them before they become unmanageable |
| MAINTAIN THE TESTWARE |
Maintain test automation scripts and test data regularly and from the very beginning. |
| PAIR UP |
Let less experienced team members pair up with more experienced team members. |
| REFACTOR THE TESTWARE |
Refactor your testware regularly |
| SET STANDARDS |
Set and follow standards for the automation artefacts. |
| SHARE INFORMATION |
Ask for and give information to managers, developers, other testers and customers. |
| SHORT ITERATIONS |
Develop test automation in short iterations. |
| TAKE SMALL STEPS |
Look for small increments of the work that will give you value. |
| TEST THE TESTS |
Test the scripts just as you would test production code. |
| WHOLE TEAM APPROACH [1] |
Testers, coders and other roles work together on one team to develop test automation along with production code. |
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[1] Suggested by Lisa Crispin