daily post

What most automation trainings are missing?

Explaining the fundamentals, and that’s where I like to start..

Starting with installing the tool is not a great way

With automation the ‘why’ is far more important than the how

Automation done well is time intensive and requires by-in from many departments

Going in for the wrong reason is the main cause of failure

I’ll be talking about this concept a couple of times in different ways over the course of the training

(Image from the previous week sessions)

“The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention.” John Burroughs

Don’t shy away from spreading knowledge (more in the video – Testing Heroes)

I know how hard it can be to create content in your spare time

After a 9 – 5, spending time creating content without expectation of return is not easy

But the return is always many times more

I felt this very deeply when doing the ‘yearly’ tour of independence hall (PA) last month.

So to those who have something to share, please step up, every good deed counts..

#QsDaily #testing #automation

“Web automation training” and pseudo code – The missing piece of the puzzle

From an automation training session I was conducting last week..

In most automation trainings the course content starts directly from installing the software

While setting up selenium surely is a basic step, but a very important prior step is usually missing

I call this the algorithm design process, where the trainees learn about how to think about algorithms

The human mind works very differently than a machine,

A to-be programmer should train to think in terms of programming blocks

This is where pseudo code comes in.

Image below showing me discussing a game ‘help the robo’ to think in terms of logic building and writing pseudo code

I recently explored TestProject

And here’s my experience:

Every tool focuses to solve certain problems in automation

While the scope can be wider, most tools have a specific few problems they are really focusing on

With TestProject, a platform for developing automation scripts, one problem is setup time

They have tried to make the setup for automation very easy and quick

While there are other features of the tool as well, this is one which might benefit the most for beginner users.

More in the article linked in comments.

The foundation of relationships

Building trust..

In some industries measuring success is very easy

The ‘work done’ is quantifiable, which makes managing the job easier

In other cases, like the software industry, most of the work we (are supposed to) do is intellectual

Quantifying the ‘work done’ in such cases is quite bewildering and confusing

While the end success will be measured in dollars and cents, tying every activity to those sales is sometimes impossible

While as a community we are trying to find great measures to quantify ‘work done’, trust will remain the most valuable currency

By the way, these measures too eventually generate trust, which is what the economic system is built on

A brand can charge many times more for the same product just because of trust

And many of us would gladly pay the extra price

Learn how to build ‘genuine’ trust, this would ensure long lasting success

An automation framework analogy

Thanks to Ryan Bedino for reminding a slide a prepared 4 years ago

If we give the analogy of a car, Selenium WebDriver would be the engine

An engine alone does not do the job,

You need a lot of other parts for the car to run

And a lot more to make the ride smoother and more comfortable

And that’s what an automation framework will do for you,

Add a lot of essential features on top of the core functionality (browser automation)

Image illustrating the concept

The law of reciprocity and office relationships

Here’s what I have learned:

Sometimes office relationships can be tricky to deal with

But mostly they become as tricky ‘as you make them’

At one point in my career I had to make a decision,

Should I keep my own interest the first and only priority? Or keep giving my only priority, and my interests second?

That was the turning point, and thank God I decided to make sharing my highest priority

Since then I have received many folds in return from places I never expected

And that’s my philosophy on office relationships too,

Spread the good without expectation of return, great things will eventually come your way

The only important thing is to keep your faith, it’s easier said than done,

But that’s price you have to pay.

Browser automation vs Automation in test (Test Automation)

What is the difference?

In many cases folks assume both are the same, wherein the real problem lies.

Automation of tests can be done in MANY different ways,

One of them being ‘browser automation’.

On those same lines, Selenium is a ‘browser automation’ tool,

I might not classify the WebDriver library as an ‘automation tool’.

Once the difference is understood, then the inquisitive mind will ask for:

What else do I need beside a ‘browser automation’ tool even if I’m doing just UI automation..

And that’s where the fun begins.. ‘Automation Framework design’,

Explaining structure of a program

Here’s an analogy I like to use in training:

Software programs are grouped in different layers to give them structure

It also makes them easy to maintain, port to other platforms and many other benefits

An analogy I give is about a library of books and a software program ‘library’

The analogy might not fit 100%, but is a good start

The screenshot is a picture from a training session I am in the process of preparing for Web Automation

But before I talk about automation, I discuss the fundamentals of programming

This section specifically comes under ‘Introduction to Java’

More fun stuff coming up..