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Ten Steps to Building Software Test Automation That Works

Step 1... Define Your Goals And Objectives

Back in high school, I frequently asked my father if I could use the family car. He always made a point to ask me where I was going. After a few failed attempts, I realized, if I had any chance of getting the keys to the car, I needed a good reason. I had to be going somewhere of importance. I couldn't tell him I just wanted to drive around town with my friends and had no specific destination.

The same holds true with defining the goals and objectives of your Software Quality Assurance Test Automation Project. By defining specific goals and objectives for the project, you can save a lot of time and money and reach your destination sooner. This weeks topic will discuss some important elements to help you plan your QA Automation Journey.

Everyone knows it would not be wise to go on the long trip without a map or GPS, especially if you have not been there before. Once you know your destination you can then plan the details that are required for you to get there.

This is also true in the world of QA Automation. It is, indeed, a long journey. To some software development organizations, it is a journey for the life of the company. Therefore, we think it is important to set time aside to define your specific goals and objectives for QA Automation.

Let us briefly reiterate the high level benefits of QA Automation:

  • Your productivity will increase
  • Your time to market will be reduced
  • The quality of the product will continue to improve

For different people in your organization, different things will be important. But, it is very important for everyone to understand one common set of goals and objectives to get your team to the right destination in the shortest possible time.

Your Company's goals:

Improving productivity is the most important goal in delivering a software product for internal or external clients. However, you do not have to forget about other benefits of automation such as improving the quality of the product, increasing job satisfaction for internal QA and development teams, and reducing the time required for complete regression of the product.

Who are my customers?

You have to consider two major categories of customers:

  • End users of the product and
  • The internal development organization who will be on the receiving end of the results of your accomplishments

Your Customers' goals:

With their goals in mind, you can determine the goals of each of these categories:

End users:

  • Reduced errors in the product
  • Regular updates without braking existing functionality
  • Product that works reliably with any third party solutions or plug-ins

Internal development organization:

  • Shorten development / release cycle
  • Streamline development and testing: eliminate bottlenecks, firefighting, or slipping deadlines
  • Improve productivity of the development and QA teams
  • Save money

Stay tuned for next month's topic: "Defining Budget and ROI." We'll discuss some potential results to expect from automation.

Please e-mail your comments to cblaylock@qasignature.com or call 617 510-6545.

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