daily post

From the lens of an automation architect

The front end is in some ways easy and hard to automate

Synchronization can be a problem but object identification can get easier

API automation can be a challenge, since they are not designed to be consumed for folks other than developers

Dev and test environment creation can be old school, that means creating and tearing them down is hard

More points under each of these areas can be explored here:

http://quality-spectrum.com/legacy-products-automation-technology-challenges/

Is a response within 24 hours acceptable?

It used to be a response within 24 hours is good enough to any email

With the rise of social media platforms and instant messaging, it is expected to be responsive all the time

Some people pride on their capability to respond within few hours any time of the day (night)

This habit can be detrimental to ‘Deep thinking’, which is what essentially we are paid to do

A human brain can focus only on one thing at a time in order to ‘think deep’

Also there is a switching cost from one task to the other. It’s not like flipping a switch

Going back and forth between different things can make you feel more exhausted

And ‘reduce’ your productivity since you’d not be able to hit the ‘deep thinking’ zone on 2x to 10x your mental capacity

I feel a ‘within’ 24 hours response from a ‘select few’ contacts on important conversations

And an ‘whenever possible’ response on communication from other contacts and non-important topics should be the expectation

Try spending more time daily thinking deep and less switching and doing shallow stuff

Lessons from “Deep Work” – Cal Newport

And it happens to be your old nemesis?

Around me I see people starting programming the wrong way

They start with a lot of new things to learn the same time

Complex IDEs, complex languages, configurations, advanced concepts..

Handling all these things the same time is not a smart move

The basics to learn programming IMHO has to do with algorithm design

Apptitude to think how to give instructions to a dumb machine

For those starting this journey, my two cents on where to start

Develop the right aptitude and attitude:

A question from the Automation Guild 2018

Install selenium and write tests for all screens – NO!

That can be a start, but not the plan on how to approach this

Not everything can be assessed completely sitting at the client side

Also, automating scenarios on the back end layers is more easier and effective

You would want to check all moving parts in separately

Wisdom from the ‘Automation Pyramid’

More here:

#RSQ

And is therefore very easy to install, configure and backup..

Java being platform independent, makes running Jenkins a lot easier

However some folks do get stuck setting up Java the first time

Installing the JDK (Java Development Kit) can turn into a painful process

An easy way is to install ‘Chocolately’ – A software packaging manager

In layman terms, makes ‘packages’ installation a lot easier

All you have to do is run simple windows batch commands, and it does the download, install and windows configuration for you

More on that and background on Jenkins installation here:

#RSQ

Am I the only one to feel the word ‘tester’ is synonymous to ‘being non-technical’?

Many testers are just basic users of technology

And feel no obligation in learning the magic happening behind the scene

Testing software is not like quality control for flip flops

The complexity and its impact on people’s lives requires a tester to know how the software is working

And test across the technology stack according to the architecture

That does not mean you need to be ‘Elon Musk’ type technical,

But you should know the control flow of data from the front end into the DB and back in front of the user

I have a few theories on how testers traditionally thought to be ‘absolved’ of being technical, which is for a later discussion

But one of my values I stand for is ‘Technological Advancement’

One of the three aspects that would distinguish the ‘Next generation tester’

#RedefiningSoftwareQuality

Follow the ‘decision making process’

One of the most valuable things I learned in my MBA – ‘The decision making criteria’

This is a real short synopsis which might make no sense right now, I’ll write something in detail later on

1. Identify goals and objectives – Gauge product quality, increase delivery speed, build confidence

2. Decision making criteria – Maintainability, Reusability, Scalability and Robustness

3. Core problem – E.g. Not able to increase code coverage quickly

4. Alternatives – E.g. Ready API, RestAssured, Postman, ‘quick; automation UI tools e.g. TestComplete, UFT’

5. Evaluate all alternatives with merits – Pros and Cons for each

6. Select as per decision criteria – Which tool will help to increase coverage quickly while the decision criteria (point 3) is also met

7. Implement – Track implementation progress and impact for analysis

8. Evaluate results – Retrospect

Credit: To one of my Guru’s at my business school, Prof. Fareedy.

#RedefiningSoftwareQuality #RSQ

“Automation is not finding bugs” a question I got,

My answer – “Is automation supposed to capture bugs?”

“I speak clearly, I think clearly” Michael Bolton..

Since often we call it Test Automation, the assumption is this ‘testing’ should report bugs

In reality automation is not ‘testing’, it’s ‘checking’, therefore it will not always capture bugs

However, automation does free up tester’s time to do more testing and capture bugs

The bug capturing will be done by tester’s for the most part, not automated scripts

Not to say automation will not capture bugs at all,

Rather, it should occasionally capture issues and provide confidence in our application’s stability

More on this plus about data generation for automation here:

A manager’s comments to a team member – I happen to agree with

I usually keep leaves till the very end for a rainy day

And mostly would end up having quite a few unused leaves

To be honest I avoided any time off for vacations

Or take a leave when I needed, would instead try to adjust within my work day

Knowing this was not the right thing to do, but still for some reason acted that way

I did appreciate the encouragement on utilizing leaves and not keeping them from the end

A human brain cannot function on the same pace without a break

Our cognitive abilities and concentration capability depletes and needs replenishment

So take time off guys wherever it’s due.

By doing that, you are actually doing your ‘work’ a favor!

The first step is NOT installing Selenium – IMHO

Learning Selenium with Java is not all there is about automation (nor the best place to start)

Importantly, what you might be looking for is ‘to be technical’

And learning programming with Java and TestNG does not make you technical

A person who knows how software works, how the technology stack works, basics of programming is more technical

You don’t want to be an automation engineer first, you want to be technically equip first

Then move your way up to learning the tools

#RSQ