In starting a new test automation group at work, I started doing some industry research to get some do/don't ideas. I really, really dislike the idea of GUI x,y coordinate automation; other GUI object-aware automation tools seem to be pricey and still seem like tons of maintenance and really distanced from testing the real meat of most apps. Most info that I've found on the topic has either dealt with things at the GUI level (probably since that's "easiest" to implement, despite being difficult to maintain), or at the unit level--while these focuses certainly have their merits, I was looking for info on the level in between those things; Google calls this the "medium" level.
I found this article by Brett Pettichord called "Seven Steps to Test Automation Success", where he talks about the difficulties in automating tests, and I really think he hits a lot of nails on the head. He argues that in developing automate tests, you should really treat your work like that of software development, then discusses his seven steps:
- Improve the Testing Process
- Define Requirements
- Prove the Concept
- Champion Product Testability
- Design for Sustainability
- Plan for Deployment
- Face the Challenges of Success
All in all, there's tons of meat in this article, so take it in sections or get a cup of coffee and get comfy, but either way I think this is going to be a reference of mine for quite some time now.
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