With enterprises around the world coming up with various applications for their products and services, software testing is gaining more popularity. Automation testing is no more a mere step that has to be performed before releasing any application but has now become an essential part of the entire application development process. It helps in finding out errors with any application. It then allows developers to make the required changes and release a user-friendly fast application.
Automation testing is a subset of the software testing process. It helps developers in expediting the entire software development process and also increases the test coverage. However, the process is not as simple as it looks. Developers face a lot of challenges while testing applications. Without overcoming the challenges faced, developers will face countless nightmares. These challenges might also result in application failure. Here, we have listed some of the top challenges that developers face and impact the entire project negatively. The earlier you understand these challenges, then you will be able to come up with better solutions.
Deciding What Should Be Automated
Every repetitive activity can be automated. The choice remains with the developer. However, if you think wisely, it is 100% optional and not mandatory. But you also cannot automate every single test action. Automating test execution is specially not possible where user interaction and recovery are involved. Before you begin with the automation process or think about automating an action, you need to come up with criteria test cases to automate a test. Find out which test case is important to you.
It is also the area where the most amount of risk is involved. Here is when you apply the most complex business logic needs. Identify the application areas and test parameters to ensure that the automation pays off. For instance, it is always a good idea to automate test cases with different data sets. It also applies to tests with large amounts of data. While automating a test action, you need to select repetitive tasks and not a one-time action.
Picking the Right Automation Tool
Selecting the right automation tool is also a tricky step in automation testing. The automation process requires a reliable tool, and when it comes to choosing the right tool, your team might get intimidated by the options available. For a smooth automation process, your group requires a well-performing tool. Your team might find it challenging to choose the right tool because of various reasons:
- Most team members do not have expertise in all kinds of software.
- They don’t know whether the tool they need exists or not.
- Most automation tools are expensive and might exceed the present budget.
- Most testing software does not offer 100% test coverage.
According to most developers, they do not find the right automation tool required for their application.
If your team does not know how to work with a particular tool, training is a must. You can buy online courses for your developers or hire a consultant that can help your team of developers masters almost all testing tools. Forums like StackExchange have rich sources of information that are helpful for developers.
Sometimes most tools will not offer you every feature that you need for automation testing. If this is the case, you need to start searching for multi-tool solutions that will have all features that you need. However, if you find a tool that is out of your budget, start with preparing a cost vs benefit analysis, and present your case to the executive team. This analysis will help you understand if it’s worth going out of budget and if the tool is capable enough to automate the test process.
Collaboration and Communication
The entire test automation process generally requires proper communication and collaboration between team members. However, communication becomes a difficult task in a large team. Active team involvement is essential. Automation relies on any data and experience that your team can deliver. For automation tests, all team members need to be on the same page.
Automation developers should be in touch with each other and not with the business only. Communication between manual testers, technical architects, and developers is essential for a smooth workflow. When there is better communication between all these departments, then only ROI will be possible. You will need a co-operative team management process before you start with the automation testing process. Focus on creating a collaborative and engaging work environment where team members can easily communicate with each other and deliver quick and accurate test results with very little or no risk involvement.
Selecting the correct testing approach
It is one of the most significant challenges for software automation testers around the world. Automation testers need to identify the right test approach before actually starting the test process. Consider a few things while selecting the correct test approach. Below we have mentioned some of the essential factors that you should consider.
- How to reduce implementation and maintenance costs?
- How will the automation tool help developers with metrics and test reports?
- Will this be a long-term testing approach for the team?
This step is essential for teams that work in Agile environments where test applications are not constant. In an Agile environment, test automation should be implemented in a manner that can be recognized. Also, it is essential to keep the team updated and should follow a cost-effective strategy. Automation testing helps in finding out errors that make it necessary.
Extra Upfront Expenses
Automation can be expensive compared to any other software development process. Automation testing is useful for the Agile context, but it can be a bit pricey as well. Before you present an automation suite to the management, make sure that you build and analyze the testing software, including reusable library functions. However, the cost involves hardware and software costs. Testing is not a one-time step – it is an on-going process. While selecting an automation testing tool, you should go for an affordable option.
Apart from hardware and software license costs should also be included while calculating the expense, even if you choose an open-source solution. You cannot ignore training and maintenance costs. Convincing stakeholders of the worth of automation is a challenging but essential task. But a well-prepared plan will surely be able to convince your stakeholders.
The Right Testing Resources
Most stakeholders are not aware of the importance of Automation and think that manual testers can easily carry out most tasks. However, for people who know about the benefits of automation testing, convincing would not be required. To develop a smoothly performing testing method, developers need to come up with a design that is easy to maintain and gives the best solution.
For successful automated testing, teams should have in-depth knowledge about the design framework, along with implementation. That is why building a team that has good product knowledge and knowledge about testing, in general, is very important.
In the previous point, we have discussed how an affordable testing tool should be your choice. However, make sure that you do not end up selecting a not-so-well-performing tool while maintaining your budget. The software that you will use should be affordable and well-performing at the same time.
Understanding Your Stakeholders Expectations
No matter how expensive or fast tools you use for carrying out the automation testing, the testing process takes place in a vacuum. The only objective of automation testing is to improve the product’s quality.
Automation testing is an ideal method to point out bugs and issues with your applications and make changes accordingly. However, it would help if you also remembered keeping in mind your stakeholder’s expectations. These tests are essential for bringing valuable inputs to your application. That’s why you need to make sure that your management, development team, and stakeholders agree and understand the purpose of the test and the result.
Knowing Correct Test Timing
It is a tough challenge that most developers face at some point in the project. Most developers are already done with the testing process before they understand the importance and the correct time for the test. The end time of the test is as important as the start time.
You would not want to start automation testing at the wrong stage of software development. It will only result in a loss of resources. Begin with manual testing and when your developers are stable with the entire process, start the automation testing process.
These are some of the most popularly faced issues by software developers. Tackling these issues is extremely important to make the workflow smooth for developers. With the tips mentioned above, you will surely be able to cope up with these challenges.
- Performing Testing with LambdaTest
LambdaTest is a popularly used cross-browser testing tool by developers for software developers. It comes with a free trial which helps software testers and developers to test their website on over 2000 browsers & OS. Moreover they can also save time by performing tests in parallel on LambdaTest.
LambdaTest also offers a scalable selenium grid for automation testing and test on scale.
Conclusion
Just like dealing with challenges that occur during the software testing process, it is also extremely important to select the right tool to carry out the testing process. Today developers are left with a huge variety of software to choose from. Automation testing is an essential part of software development hence the right software can make a huge difference. Choose the best suited for you and your requirement.