Agile Test Automation Development

Instructor: Monica Luke
Test Automation Architect at IBM Rational
Been doing this for 17 years

Automate early, automate often

Going Agile

Plan for an extended transition – it is a culture shift
Transition is hard for development
Need to build a sense of urgency

Aside: most companies seem to apply only parts of Agile

Benefits:
* Incremental deliveries
* Visibility: deliver often, demo often
* Team morale: better productivity, less burnout

Challenges:
* Quick moving cycles
* Planing is key, as is estimation
* Just enough process to be visible and predictable

Test and Test Automation is the bomb

Aside: most organizations represented here seem to have dedicated groups – for analysis, development, and testing. Few seem to have people that do "everything."

What to automate and when. Avoid automate moving targets. Ask: what are your manual test pain points?

What is the right insertion point:
* API
* GUI
* Product Architecture

Going Agile: A Case Study

1. Select Practices to Adopt
2. Implement, Evaluate, Adapt
3. Adopt or Reject Practices
4. Goto 1

Time boxed iterations
- Three weeks
-- 1.5 days planning
-- 12 days coding
-- 1.5 days testing

Shorter iterations (2 or 3 weeks) build a sense of urgency.