Are Testing Tools Influencing Your Thought Process?
By Ray Parker
Imagine being trapped in a place where you are constantly working hard with the maximum concentration. Now imagine that by the end of the day you realize that despite all the hard work you did, there is nothing in your credits and someone else takes credits of all your hard work and efficiency. Pretty horrible, Right? Believe it or not but that’s exactly what most of the automation testing tools are doing with you.
In this blog, you’ll find out how these tools are influencing your thought process and how can still be productive and creative while using these tools. Here you go:
The Compromises You Make
Using test case management tools is all fun and easy. However, you have to make some inevitable compromises in order to carry the process of automation testing. This may not sound a big deal given the fact that automated testing is saving us a lot of trouble but sadly, these compromises come at a cost. Sometimes, in extreme cases, this cost could be in millions both literally and figuratively. It is because these tools don’t let you add your own creativity even if you want to.
What You See is All There Is
A Nobel-Prize laureate, Daniel Kahneman calls “system one”, where what you see is all there is or WYSIALTI. This means that there might be some bugs in the project which might slip in without being noticed. However, they can affect the efficiency and working of the project. These bugs can only be fixed with manual testing but you have to let them as a price you are paying for the compromises you are making.
The Dominant Philosophy
Modern test case management tools claim to do all the work and that is certainly possible. Their dominant philosophy is even visible from the name of their buttons and workflow, for example, “test case suit” and “Object repository”. No doubt that you can take test cases and call them characters, however, you still have to follow steps in order to do that. Hence, you’ll still be bound to the set of instructions and there will be very little or no room for your creativity.
A Lesson to Remember
The real question is if automation testing is limiting the creativity of the testers, the is it really worth it? The is yes and here’s why. Although there are certain limitations which come with automation testing however, with a little effort you can still be creative and use automation testing at the same time. All you have to do is :
• Spend as much time as you want and find the limits of the tool you are going to use
• Address these limitations and try to fix them as much as possible
• If the tool is still limiting your thinking or creativity, then you better look for another tool
With the right tool, you’ll be able to conquer the world of testing so don’t be afraid of automation testing just choose wisely and you’ll be good to go.
Author Bio:
Ray Parker is a senior marketing consultant with a knack for writing about the latest news in tech, quality assurance, software development and travel. With a decade of experience working in the tech industry, Ray now dabbles out of his New York office.