Common Challenges in Software Test Automation and How to Overcome Them
Agile and DevOps have changed the way software is developed and delivered. Today’s fast-paced software development cycles requires faster and smarter test approaches. An efficient way to deal with testing in Agile and DevOps is to adopt a powerful test automation approach. Automation brings a lot of advantages to testing teams, but that does not mean it is without any challenges. By overcoming such challenges, it should enhance the quality of the software and boost productivity. Here are some of the most common challenges in software automation testing and how you can overcome them:
Choosing the appropriate test automation tool
Choosing one out of the several test automation tools available in the market for your current or upcoming automation testing requirements can be a difficult task. In order to select a perfect test automation tool, organizations need to be explicit about the following things,
- Understand your project requirements thoroughly
- Skilled resources to handle the new test automation tool
- Budget to purchase the new test automation tool (licensing and maintenance cost, etc.)
- Support extended by test automation tool vendors
Finding the best starting strategy
You may have the tools for testing, but what will you automate and how will you do it? Keep in mind that it is not possible to automate everything, so depending on the project requirements, you need to develop an automation testing strategy that makes sense for the product. To build a sound strategy for automated software testing, you can rely on two popular approaches like risk-based testing and Mike Cohn’s concept of ‘Test Automation Pyramid’.
Determining what needs to be automated
At this point, we have yet to discover technologies that can fully automate software testing. It’s still impossible to automate each test case, particularly in areas like user interface / usability, recovery, and compatibility. They need to be done manually. To identify tests that can be automated, create a criterion; if the test case can’t meet it, it cannot be automated.
Lack of communication and collaboration within the team
Test automation requires lot of planning, communication and team work. You and your team of developers as well as the customers should be able to communicate effectively and collaborate with ease. To overcome this challenge, management must ensure that there is a clearly-defined process in place and that each team member adheres to the process.
Keeping Automation Test Scripts Up-To-Date
Maintaining automation test suite is always a challenge to test automation team. When functionality changes, the test cases that verify that functionality should be rewritten. Testers should periodically update automation test suite based on the latest version of the product.
Wrapping Up
These are not the only challenges you’ll face in test automation, but they are common. The decisions you make during the implementation phase will impact you throughout your automation life-cycle. So plan ahead for the above-discussed challenges when implementing test automation for your project.