Automated testing is a fantastic way to ensure quality. It enables developers to quickly determine whether or not an application works as they intended and can cover a large number of use cases. Automation is an essential tool in a QA engineer’s belt. It can detect issues with even the most complex software systems. Automated software tests are code segments that perform predefined tests on an application by simulating a user’s actions. They can be used to validate that the application works as expected in various scenarios and enhance the quality of the delivered product.
But there’s a more significant danger of automation testing that is not easy to discover or quantify. Tests can often fail, and this failure doesn’t always have to do with your test code or implementation. Automation tests are only as reliable as the practices and precautions you implement to support them. And if you don’t pay attention to some of the most common reasons why that happens, you will lead yourself down a dangerous path where your team will be less likely to trust your actions.
Automation testing is an invaluable component of modern software development. It reduces the time it takes to get new features from concept to production, improves the quality of releases, and ensures that your application will remain stable as it grows and changes over time. But there are some common pitfalls that every team using automation needs to be aware of before they begin down the path. Those hazards can hold you back from reaping all the rewards that automation test suites have to offer.
- Testing is Not Magic
Everyone thinks that automation testing is all about scripting a mass of tests and leaving them to run on their own. The reality? It’s much more complex than that. Even though automation testing can be very powerful, it’s also true that the majority of tests require some people involved. These tests are called non-automatable tests because they require manual intervention for specific steps and situations.
This is a very important distinction to make but it makes sense when you hear about the different types of non-automatable test cases. Automated testing is the most efficient way to test market requirements. However, there are certain tests that require careful manual intervention from experienced testers to ensure that the software is thoroughly tested and functional. When such tests are automated, they tend to be flaky or have a high rate of defects; which defeats the purpose of automation in the first place.
- Automation Do’s and Don’ts
Organizations today are looking to achieve higher levels of automation for testing web applications. While you might find 100% automation impossible, you can automate a lot more than you might think if you’re willing to tackle a few key areas. There is no such thing as 50% or 100% automation testing coverage when it comes to the world of technology. The ideal result depends upon several factors – the size of your software, what it is designed for, and the testing process that it will be going through, for instance (white-box and black-box testing).
There is no concrete number that represents a perfect percentage of automated testing coverage that is acceptable for every business. It all depends upon the type and size of the application that you are building and how much effort you can afford to allocate to automation testing. The type of automation testing required differs depending on the type of application being developed. For example, e-commerce websites need more automated tests than static websites. The scope of application functional testing differs from one web application to another depending on the type of application and the kind of functionalities offered by it. It also depends on the type of automation testing tool used.
- Lack of Knowledge on Manual Testing
In order for the test automation to be performed successfully, a certain skill set is required. If your current team members lack manual testing or exploratory testing background, it wouldn’t make sense to continue with this process. Automation is a fantastic tool, but it’s not always an easy one to master, so it’s important to understand your team’s skill set and their current capabilities in relation to test automation.
Automation is a technique that helps software teams to repeat tests without any significant effort. Automating just those parts of testing that are more stable helps developers to concentrate on finding new defects or bugs. To ensure the best software possible, companies should develop automation for repetitive elements and test for changes manually.
- Not Understanding When to Deploy Automation Testing
The most common reason why automation fails is not a lack of tests but it is a lack of understanding of when and where to begin an automation project. It’s alright to test on the webpage functionalities but not the image or elements rendering issues on a web page. Test Automation tools are designed to ease the burden of manual testing. But it’s more or less a good idea to automate different webpage functionalities, and it’s also not a good idea to test the padding, images, etc. rendering issues through test automation. Test automation is an integral part of any development life cycle. But there are some drawbacks for test automation if done wrong.
You cannot automate something that depends on multiple factors; the elements on which it depends need to be evaluated manually. For example, there are many defects that can be identified only visually; these cannot be handled well by test automation. Test automation can be of great use for regression testing, providing you with quick and continuous feedback. Essentially, you should use test automation in combination with manual tests when you are testing something prone to many changes. In case your product is stable and not prone to frequent, numerous changes, automation is not called for.
- Making Estimations and Keeping Expectations that are achievable
For any organization which invests in test automation, the priority will always be to have a plan that prompts for the highest possible ROI. Test automation is your guide. It works with you to take your testing goals one step at a time. It stays open for the long run. ROI meets your expectations and returns on investment improve, just as projects start hitting their timeframe and budget. I have seen many instances where technical teams spend a lot of time on test automation.
But often the ROI of their efforts is not as high as they expect. The end-users, for example, don’t get the kind of experience that they should because of hidden defects that may have gone undetected in unit or integration testing. Hence, Planning a test automation project starts with realistic predictions about the future. If you try to rush your planning phase and use the wrong statistics, you’re doomed from the start.
- Selecting the Right Automation Testing Tool
Long gone are the days where automation engineers get carried away by button-clicking tools. Today, with so many automation tools being marketed, it becomes all the more important to do your homework properly and make an informed decision. LambdaTest’s Automation Testing tool is a one-stop-shop for every business looking for a testing tool that functions with premium efficacy. LambdaTest automation testing tool is a scalable, secure, and reliable cloud-based Selenium grid. LambdaTest helps in automating web application and cross-browser testing for your software applications. With 2000+ desktop and mobile browser environments, you can test your web applications effectively. LambdaTest offers three core solutions: Single machine cloud testing, Cloud-based virtualized environment for automated tests, and Parallel cloud-based infrastructure for high volume load testing.
LambdaTest has delivered the most advanced and easy-to-use cloud-based Selenium testing tool. The LambdaTest cloud-based Selenium grid is a powerful way to automate browser testing. LambdaTest offers a scalable Selenium grid online on which you can automate testing for your website or web application with confidence. LambdaTest offers easy-to-use Selenium IDE, cloud-based service, and test recording tools for functional tests, acceptance, and end-to-end testing. Open LambdaTest in your browser and create an account for free. You will get spinning up an environment in under a minute with multiple real browsers and platforms.
