Diagnostic

Test Automation Patterns are most useful if you can focus on the ones that really help solve your issues. We start the diagnostic process by asking some questions. Some will lead you directly to a specific issue; others will have a number of possible answers which lead to more detailed questions or to the issue that best describes your problem. At any level you will be able to return to the preceding level. Your answers should help pinpoint your main issue(s). These issues contain recommendations for the patterns that will help you solve your problems. In the resolving patterns we give some guidelines, but choosing how to apply the patterns is something that you will need to think about for your own situation.

=Note: we are talking about automating system level tests, not unit-tests.

Here are some questions to get you started looking for the issues you may be encountering:

1. Are you just starting with automation and have never done it before? Look at the issue NO PREVIOUS TEST AUTOMATION.
2. Are you are joining a test automation team and have no experience in test automation? Look at the issue LIMITED EXPERIENCE for suggestions on how to catch up fast.
3. Are you completely happy with your automation at this time? Then please share your knowledge with other Wiki users. You don't have to read further ;-).
4. Do you already know what your specific issues are? If so, you can go straight to the relevant issue(s) from the list of Test Automation Issues.
5. At this point, we presume that you are not satisfied with your current automation. Perhaps you tried automation and it didn't work and is now abandoned, or it just isn't giving you the benefits you had wanted and expected. So now you want to
   Improve or revive improve or revive your test Automation.

Tips:

• If the first option you try doesn't seem to fit your situation, come back to this page and try another.
• If in your company there are different teams working with automation, let each do the diagnostic first by themselves. If the issues they wind up with differ substantially you should then look up the issue LOCALISED REGIMES because that’s a sign that each team is working completely independently from the others, there is no sharing of know-how, methods, standards etc. *

Note: Diagnostic pages have titles in "Sentence" case (first letter capitalised, then lower case), ISSUES and PATTERNS have titles in UPPER CASE.

(Let us know if there is a question we should be asking at any point that would be more relevant to you than the ones we already have - thanks.)

• added by Liz from the book!