Whether you’re building your initial business case, calculating your ROI, or kicking off your first project, estimating the complexity of each test case you’re going to automate can be a real pain—which can make it near impossible to accurately scope your effort. Fortunately, all you need to do is remember 60-30-10.
Test Automation
When it comes to test automation, a lot of companies tend to pick tools that are readily available to them—as opposed to the ones that align best with their strategy. But there’s one factor that’s just as important: making sure their developers can actually support it. And make no mistake—they’re harder to find than you think.
For a lot of companies, choosing a test automation tool is less about fit and more about what’s already on hand. Unfortunately, that approach—while thrifty in the short term—is entirely backwards. Your ROI doesn’t depend on how much your license costs; it depends on how well your tool aligns with your approach.
If there’s one fundamental challenge about testing in Agile, it’s keeping up with the speed of developers. But while you don’t want bottlenecks, you don’t want to sacrifice quality, either. So, how do you make sure your testers don’t fall behind? Automate as much as you can—then automate a little more.
Admit it: you have no idea what your SMEs do when they test your software systems. It’s okay—no one does. That’s why they’re so vital to your testing effort. But what happens when they leave? If you’re not using test automation, you could be in trouble.
There’s no question that the 3 Perils of Software Development—Defects, Delays, and Dollars—can sink your projects in an instant. So how do you beat them? You test early and you test often—by getting proactive with your testing and automating whatever you can.
When it comes to software testing, most folks think they can’t have inexpensive, fast, and high quality all at once. And while that may be true for traditional testing, there is a way to have it all: test automation.
This month, as you settle in to your comfiest leather armchair for some comfy Christmas shopping (with or without a glass of spiked eggnog), take a moment to thank the most unsung heroes of the Holidays: the IT personnel that support the biggest shopping season for the year.
If you have a large testing need, there’s no question that test automation can probably net you a pretty significant ROI—heck, it can potentially cut your testing budget in half! Unfortunately, many companies fail to do that. In the end, your success—or failure—with test automation all comes down to one thing: a sound strategy.
With budget planning in full swing, now’s the time to invest in large testing/QA initiatives like test automation. Unfortunately, that means that many companies are going to face uphill battles while trying to get them approved. Fortunately, cutting-edge tools like our ROI calculator are here to help.
