The Automation Maturity Heuristic

Is your framework designed for writing automated tests, or for automated testing?

We call them automation frameworks but typically they are single purpose software full of assumptions around that purpose, tightly coupled to executing complete end to end test cases.

Inspired by the Richardson Maturity Model for REST Api’s, I will share a heuristic model of automated testing maturity consisting of four levels:

Level 0: Tests exist but framework does not.

Level 1: UI Frame work exists

Level 2: Multi Layer framework, Beyond UI, api or other components included for arranging or manipulating, only consumer is tests.

Level 3: Testing SDK, Separate libraries/packages, consumable outside of tests and multiple consumers.

At each level in the model I will describe the benefits to the business and testers then provide steps to leveling up their automation.

Ultimately driving towards a healthier and more robust approach to automated testing that is inclusive of the diverse range of team skills, while shifting automation from something testers run towards something testers use.

Attendees will see that by focusing on building a set of tools that can be composed into a platform for testing, they can empower their team members supporting quality and exploration while building a robust suite of automated tests. Helping teams to reduce the number of expensive and brittle end to end tests and have a deeper focus on tools that facilitate quality.

Session Takeaways:

  • Common pitfalls in automation frameworks.
  • Automation is more than writing tests.
  • How higher automation maturity provides more options for contribution across the range of a team’s skill sets.
  • The value in enabling and instrumenting exploratory testing.

Automation Strategy
Location: Salon B Date: April 1, 2020 Time: 10:15 am - 11:15 am Brendan Connolly STPCon Brendan Connolly