Automation, specifically what many teams call Regression Automation is all over the map. The software development world is way more varied than people think. There are many organizations with no test automation at all. There are some with hundreds of thousands of tests constantly running in the cloud or on all kinds of VMs. Any hope of Continuous Delivery or Pipeline Automation makes this current state unsustainable.
Test Automation is not optional, but we also know the “automate everything” myth is just that. I want to challenge the vague understanding of regression that gives dev teams a fuzzy confidence or shows a certain consistency.
CD, or at least deployment automation has changed all this. Automation has to move from bloated and slow to lean and mean. Automation, like many applications, needs to move from a giant monolith to an agile, nimble variety of suites used at different time for different goals giving immediate actionable feedback.

Key Take-aways

· We need a strategic re-thinking of Regression Automation in terms of CD

· Smarter automation is the only answer

· Enable the CD pipeline activities by optimizing test execution

· Design automation to give immediate feedback

· Need for Lean and Mean automation not merely More and More.