A unified and automated approach to testing software can help make companies more agile, but getting there can be challenging.
Every time a developer writes code, a corresponding test should be run, validating its success and checking it hasn’t created a problem somewhere else in the software.
Historically, those tests have largely been performed manually, taking time and skilled resource. While some tests will always need to be performed manually, many can now be automated effectively, giving developers immediate feedback and freeing them up to perform more complex work.
Test automation is becoming increasingly important as companies embed methodologies such as DevOps, Agile and CI/CD (continuous integration and continuous delivery), which enable them to deliver feature-rich applications, services and, ultimately, customer value at speed.
Test automation can be business critical
“A lot of companies have gone down the Agile route as they try to optimise delivery while retaining quality,” says Matt Blount, Director, RaM Test Consulting. “And to do Agile in any way, shape or form you need a robust automation suite because of the fast pace of change.”
Automation is critical to achieving DevOps, Agile and CI/CD, agrees Richard Williams, another Director at RaM Test Consulting. “Without test automation you will never have the confidence to release at pace because you won’t have test coverage or the immediate feedback from automated tests.”
In this way, test automation can be central to business strategy. If the continuous development and improvement of products and services is part of a company’s operating model, then that needs to be reflected in the testing strategy.
“For me, a test automation strategy is knowing where you want to be as an organisation,” says Williams. “For example, if you are currently very manual, very waterfall [linear and very structured], and want to be Agile, DevOps, and releasing every two weeks, you need to ask: How do we get there? What tools do we want to have in place? And how do we achieve this at pace?”
While many organisations understand the benefits of test automation, it is common for companies to be unsure how to approach the implementation.
Michael Cowie, Contract Consultant – Testing at Real Staffing, says: “Having worked within the test market for a number of years now I’ve seen many clients struggle with test automation.”
Williams says: “When you work with organisations, they want automation, understand the benefits but they don’t know how to get there, or, they tried it before, and it didn’t work.”
Avoiding the pitfalls
Just as with legacy software systems, test automation solutions can become composites of many different frameworks built up over time as different people work on them. And across large organisations, multiple frameworks often emerge, being used by multiple tribes, squads, or cohorts.
“From my recent experiences with clients,” says Blount, “you have elements of “confused” test automation, a mix of frameworks and languages, with none actually delivering what they originally set out to do”
Williams adds: “We often see clients trying to automate for something niche, which then becomes the standard for everything else. Trying to build out and adapt what is there because it has been heavily invested in. Often you need to review and consider the overall and wider requirements, it may be cheaper, quicker and easier and simpler to start again or implement a more robust base framework.”
This is compounded by the constant evolution of development environments calling for new test frameworks. Most recently the cloud is creating challenges.
“Everyone’s going into cloud-based solutions,” says Blount. “Clients might have some historic level of automation, when everything was on premises. Moving the same, but, into the cloud environment presents unique challenges and the experience in achieving this isn’t as widespread.”
Organisations often appreciate that a piecemeal approach to automation is not an efficient way of operating testing across an organisation, but day-to-day pragmatism can win out as different teams try to get solutions over the line.
“Until you pull the drains up and review what’s there, you don’t appreciate the scale and cost involved in maintaining multiple services, multiple solutions,” explains Williams. “And that can often be hidden from senior management with the argument that services will be impacted without ongoing investment in the status quo.”
Achieving a unified approach
A robust framework that can be built upon is the foundation of a successful unified test automation strategy.
Off-the-shelf solutions, such as that offered by RaM, can minimise the cost and complexity involved in creating this foundation.
While a company’s testing framework will need to have bespoke elements, an out-of-the-box framework takes care of the basics so that developers can get straight to the more specific parts of the job.
Williams explains: “All the heavy lifting that needs to be done at the outset – how you engage with web pages, setting browsers, interact with page elements, interrogate with a database, call API’s, how you structure those tests – all that requires a method that you have to physically code into a framework. Once you have a framework in place, the delivery aspect is simple.”
Rather than spending three to six months building the basic framework, off-the-shelf gives you that at day one, says Williams. “You go from having nothing to a degree of maturity, just by licensing that product, and then you can consider managed services, like Real Staffing offer, to provide skilled resource that can land and consume that framework and then deliver at pace. You can then go straight into delivery, realising value to customers sooner.”
Another benefit of buying a test automation framework as a service is the cost saving on maintenance. “You would likely be looking at two permanent employees just to maintain a framework,” explains Williams.
With a shortage of skilled developers in the UK labour market, a unified test automation strategy can alleviate pressure on busy teams. It can also help organisations remain agile as they seek to migrate to cloud-based solutions, enter new markets and evolve their product and service offering.
Real Staffing has built a network of the best people in test and is now partnering with RaM to offer automation solutions that answer clients’ needs.
To find out how we can help with your test automation strategy, contact us today.