UNFOCUSED AUTOMATION

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Issue Summary

What to automate is selected ad-hoc.

Category

Process

Examples

1. Parts of the SUT that would deliver the most ROI are either not automated at all or are automated after parts that are not so important.
2. Automators implement tests that are easy to automate, instead of asking the testers which tests are most important to automate.
3. Only "strategic" applications are automated, which means there still is a lot of tedious manual testing
4. A good automation project gets stopped arbitrarily
   
   

Questions

Who selects what to automate?
Who does the automation?
What are the most important tests to automate (first)?

Resolving Patterns

Most recommended:

• AUTOMATE WHAT’S NEEDED: Apply this pattern to solve this issue
• WHOLE TEAM APPROACH: If you are just starting with test automation and the SUT is beeing developed using agile processes, then this is the pattern of choice, because the whole team can best decide what to automate. Otherwise try first to convince development to adopt an agile process (you will definitely need MANAGEMENT SUPPORT)

Other useful patterns:

• KNOW WHEN TO STOP: apply this pattern if you don't want to waste a lot of effort trying to automate test cases that should not be automated
• LEARN FROM MISTAKES: this pattern helps you turn bad experiences into learning experiences

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