Since the dawn of software development the challenge has always been how to speed up testing effort without compromising the quality of the product? Several methodologies has been introduced to curb the delay in product or service delivery to the customer. Significant strides have been made, however frankly speaking the testing phase still consume lot of the time allocated to the entire project and with the cost as well. Test Automation was employed as a leverage to reduce test cycle while improving the quality of the product to be released. This enables the functional testers to focus only on the new features. Test Automation handles the regression part of the product testing which can be a huge portion especially near the end of the product development. Regression testing scope usually increase exponentially. When test automation covers a significant portion of our testing, product manager have an unsettling feeling when relying on something they don’t quite understand. How effective is your automation scripting is the question asked when assurance, confidence and guarantees are required from the testing team. This is usually a difficult question to answer as it depends on several dimensions to fully assess how effective the test automation scripting is. Unpacking the following dimensions will unravel the mystery behind test automation scripts that add value and gives business the Return on Investment (ROI) 1. Functionality 2. Maintainability 3. Reusability 4. Robust 5. Portable 6. Scalable 7. Performance The prior mentioned dimension are not outright achieved without addressing some of the challenges impeding their successful implementation. Test automation engineers must hone the following critical skills to produce an effective scripts. 1. Coding skills 2. Testing Knowledge 3. Domain knowledge 4. Framework design 5. Test Tool Knowledge 6. Reporting The trick is finding the balance in all five spheres, an individual with great coding skills but poor testing knowledge might suffice if the manual tests to be converted is of good quality. The lack of more than two skills will definitely put the test automation developer at an overwhelming disadvantage. A good script with ineffective reporting component will lead to testing value being lost in translation. The topic is a complex question that eludes many because it is multi-dimensional, being one trick pony won’t cut it.

February 28 @ 13:15
13:15 — 14:00 (45′)

Mamphofore Ntabane