The benefits of automation testing are aplenty. However, it comes with several challenges that we should address to get the best outcomes from QA automation testing. Automation testing teams have to keep abreast of the market. demand and supply factors, business objectives, and so forth. Therefore, test automation has inherent challenges. Enterprises and QA teams should identify and fix them to receive the full benefits of test automation services.
Here, we have identified the most prominent challenges you may encounter during test automation and how to fix them.
Selecting the Right Tool for Automation
You need to select the right tool for your automation testing process. This is one of the most crucial decisions you must make during your test automation endeavor- and indeed, it is one of the most important challenges as well. Several testing frameworks are available today, and picking the best from the options becomes difficult.
You can try selecting an automation testing framework based on the support and capabilities each tool possesses. Also, you have to consider your automation testing needs. It is wise to test each tool and verify its usefulness, scalability, ease of integration, maintenance required, and so on. Make sure that the tools you select should give you access to browsers, operating systems, and devices.
Making Decisions on Automaton Testing Strategies
You should understand that an automation testing framework should be selected after considering the testing team’s technical expertise, business objectives, and many more. To arrive at a test strategy, you must consider:
- Capabilities of the testing tool
- Practices needed to build a stable testing process
- QA Teams’s Objectives and expectations from test automation
- Tests that can be implemented with reduced costs and long-term effort
In the process of decision-making on testing strategies, you can even consult expert automation testers, attend webinars, and make use of relevant information sources. Make a decision after considering the best options that produce results in your context. Implement proper research to establish the protocols in automation testing to embrace success.
Rely on Skilled Testers
Automation testing requires training, and no tester can attempt it without experience. To enhance maximum efficiency and coverage, enterprises should rely on skilled testers or train existing testers. Further, a lot of investment goes into automated testing compared to manual tests.
Therefore, if you err in this area, it does not give the desired results. Also, some testing tools need specific expertise to make the most of their advantages. Hence, it is important to look for the skills and expertise of testers or train them to help you implement test automation services successfully.
High Initial Costs
Automation testing attracts high investment costs for tools, skilled resources, infrastructure, licensing, and so on. It does not matter if you use open-source automation testing tools as long as you need to train your QA team members.
Therefore, cost is one of the significant challenges. Further, the costs also increase with scalability features. However, such investments would certainly pay off in the form of reduced time-to-market and improved accuracy, all leading to higher returns in the long run. In addition, automation testing becomes a must as manual testing cannot always meet customer requirements and expectations.
Collaboration and Communication
Proper communication between teams becomes crucial. Automation testing is different from manual testing. In fact, in the former, the test should be designed, set up, and run in specific ways. Therefore, to make it run smoothly, team leaders and project managers need to have an action plan to get testers to work cohesively.
Since automation testing requires inputs from many personnel, from developers and designers to project managers, proper communication between the members is needed. It helps identify the areas that require automation and plan the tests and the timelines to be followed.
Set Realistic Goals
Automation testing helps enterprises in several ways, even though it cannot replace manual testing. Therefore, a qualified QA expert examines the automated tests. One of the biggest challenges in QA automation is that some tests cannot be automated.
Moreover, automation tests cannot revolve and produce results in faulty systems, Therefore, before executing test automation, you have to address it by debugging the tech stack. Sometimes, the QA team has to keep aside some features to meet the tight deadlines for deployment. Keep all these aspects in mind; therefore, enterprises and QA teams must set realistic expectations right from the start of the process. Having a clear about what automation testing can achieve would help.
Set realistic expectations of automation from the beginning. When conversing with management about bringing automation into the testing ecosystem, be clear about what can be achieved by automated tests – both in the initial and later stages.
Summary
Knowing the challenges in test automation and the ideal practices helps automation testing to be successful. It helps you face and make all possible ways to fix them to keep the operations simple and uncomplicated.
