Saksham S. Sarode Cognizant Technologies

Innovation Through Introspection

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©2012, Cognizant

Saksham S. Sarode Automation Center Of Excellence

Cognizant Technologies

Email: Saksham.Sarode@Cognizant.com

Innovation Through Introspection

Questioning The Traditions

Optimization Through Automation

Testers Test Black Box

Independence of Automation Testing

Automation is Regression

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Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction

- Pablo Picasso

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‘Testers Test Black Box’

Does our obsession with GUI makes us overlook efficient alternatives

for functionality testing?

“Bad news!! there are changes in ‘Order Processing’ screen in the new build so our automation scripts are not working. We need 3 days to fix and execute… ”

Have we heard this before?

Demand of working GUI for functional testing is a prerequisite or Bottleneck ?

Developers build the system in blocks then why only test the assembly?

Is GUI based functional testing comprehensive to handle todays complexity?

Stability is more at front end or back end of system?

Why not N tier test strategy to test N tier architecture?

5

Time To Introspect

Wh

y No

t

Needs business case

Technically demanding

Increased complexity

Pseudo development

Multi-skilled test teams

High initial investment

High planning and

designing effort

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Testing beyond GUI W

hy

No dependency on GUI

High immunity to changes

Increased test depth &

coverage

Implicit automation

Faster executions

Faster data creation

End to end automation

Traditional Testing

Server Side Automation

Middle Ware Testing

Test Data Management

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’Automation Is Regression’

By definition automation testing is use of software in testing, there never was

any addendum ‘only for regression’

“for god sake how hard can it be to get one report ready on time and without any mistakes?”

Have we heard this before?

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Time To Introspect

Is Regression the only Repetition in tester's life?

How much of tester’s time is spent on defect detection?

How much of tester's time is spent on peripheral work?

Finding defects needs intelligence, is it the same for report creation?

How many of you really love data creation, test setup, reporting, data comparison etc.?

Today’s daily life is enriched by automation then how come manual tester is still working in a stone age?

Automation Beyond Regression W

hy

Shifting the work to higher

intellectual levels

Testers test

Kills monotony

Motivation

Improved productivity

Consistent reporting

Wh

at

Smoke testing with auto reports

Comparison with test oracle

Auto notifications

Synchronization

Backups

Reports

…………

…………

Automation Testing Vs. Test Automation

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‘Independence Of Automation Testing’

If automation is a blend of development and testing then why these

experts are not yet involved?

“this Automation is a funny business –takes huge effort to deliver the tests you won’t execute and if you do, it wont work”

Have we heard this before………

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Time To Introspect

An automat expert is a tester or developer or both?

Can we really 'Test Early' without involving developers?

Can developer add any value to testing or automation and vice versa?

Why not 'Automation driven testing & development’ to 'Automate Early’?

First write test cases then create similar automation scripts - Rework?

Is it high time for automation experts to handover the ownership of regression automation to manual testers?

Man

ual Te

sters

Qualification: Domain guru and know their way

with system Understands business priority

Proposed role: Business consultant & automation

evangelist (user & owner)

Give: script less automation Take: buy in and involvement

To do: Consult on scope and priorities Execute and maintain automation Govern ROI

Benefits: Optimized multi skilled teams Automation driven testing Effective automation

Recommendation: long term projects

Dev

elo

pe

rs

Qualifications: Technology geek and compulsive

simulator First to know about the change Proposed role: Technical consultant & automation

partner (user) Give: automation frameworks Take: unit testing assets

To do: Consult on impact analysis Create object repository with GUI Maintain unique objects properties Benefits: Enables early automation Strong & reusable library Quality of testing and automation Recommendation: best fit for agile

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The ‘A-Team’

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’Optimization Through Automation’

Isn’t ‘Expensive Automation’ an oxymoron?

Test Automation (SwissQ Survey Testing Trends & Benchmarks Schweiz 2012) )

80% of respondents automated tests but 48% automated less than 10%

Potential of cost savings through automation is assumed rather small

Third Biggest Challenge of testing world

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Time To Introspect

Why automation is regarded as expensive affair?

Where exactly all this money is going?

What is ROI in test automation?

What mathematics have to say about ROI equation?

Does the cheapest automation qualifies as ROI friendly automation?

What are the trade offs involved ?

High Earnings

Low Investment Higher ROI

Development

Skills

Infrastructure

Optimizing ‘The Denominator’: Investment A

ltern

atives

Cloud Computing

Consolidation

Leasing

TAAS

Shift: Specialist to Generalist

Crowd sourcing

Early decision

Selection: Tool & Scope

Pro-maintenance Design

Are

yo

u p

ayin

g fo

r?

Features you never use?

Shelf life?

Idle time?

Unnecessary complexity?

Skills you already have?

Idle time?

Rework?

Maintenance?

Ambitious coverage?

Automation Cost Pyramid

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To Innovate or Not To?