In chess, the word blunder means a very bad move by someone who should know better. Even though system-level functional test automation has been around for a long time, people still make some very bad moves and serious blunders. The most common misconception in automation is thinking that human testing is the same as automated testing. And this thinking accounts for most of the blunders in system level test automation. Dorothy Graham takes us on a tour of the top four of these blunders, including: Do Testing Tools actually Test? Where are you going with your automation?, Is it all about the Tool(s)? (Silver Bullet Syndrome), and Automating the Wrong Things. Different skills, approaches, and objectives are needed or you’ll end up with inefficient automation, high maintenance costs, and wasted effort. Join Dot to discover how you can avoid these common blunders and achieve valuable system-level test automation.
Dorothy Graham has worked as an independent consultant and trainer in software testing and test automation for 50 years, and is co-author of 5 books: Software Inspection, Software Test Automation, Foundations of Software Testing, Experiences of Test Automation and A Journey Through Test Automation Patterns (see TestAutomationPatterns.org). She has been a popular and entertaining speaker at hundreds of conferences and events over the years. Dot has been on the boards of conferences and publications in software testing, including programme chair for EuroStar (twice). She was a founder member of the ISEB Software Testing Board and helped develop the first ISTQB Foundation Syllabus. She was awarded the European Excellence Award in Software Testing in 1999 and the first ISTQB Excellence Award in 2012. Now retired, she enjoys singing in choirs and small groups.
