QA Revolution

5 Agile Test Automation Best Practices

Here are 5 automation best practices you must consider when your team is building automation scripts in an Agile SDLC.

1.  Planning

It is extremely important to plan out what scripts you are going to automate and you always must keep the end goal in mind.  Test automation can be expensive and if you aren’t careful you will build a bunch of automated scripts that will be thrown away in later sprints.  Due to the shorter time frames within a sprint, planning is critical and is a must have.  Planning also helps to ensure that there is the proper amount of ROI so that your team can focus on automating those scripts that really matter.

2.  Allocate Time

If you are committed to automation you need to be able to allocate the proper amount of time.  Often, testers get in a jam and become focused on the wrong things.  Make sure you have enough time to build and modify test scripts from sprint to sprint.

3.  Right Tools

With most IT projects it is important to have the right tools to do the job.  Test automation is no different and it is important to invest in the right tool so you can get the right results.

4.  Dedicated Resources

Test automation cannot be a part time job.  You must invest in having the right resources and have those dedicated to test automation.  If you don’t have dedicated automation experts, chances are you aren’t going to be successful.

5.  Automation Backlog

It is important to have tasks within the sprint that are focused on test automation.  This will ensure that those tasks get completed.  You also will need to add tasks for the activities that will keep automation running smoothly.  Items such as paramaterization, DevOps integration, and reporting are critical elements that have to be in place.

I hope these will help you in your journey to build a top notch automation team.

If you would like more information on Agile, DevOps or Software Testing, please visit my Software Testing Blog or my Software Testing YouTube Channel.

Ron Wilson