In this webinar, Karen reviews some of the roadblocks that face automation so that as a team tester – whether your focus is manual testing or automation, you can help move your team’s testing efforts forward. View the webinar recording - https://testhuddle.com/how-manual-testers-can-help-with-automation-efforts/

1. WEBINAR HOSTED BY EUROSTAR:
HOW MANUAL TESTERS
CAN HELP WITH
TEST AUTOMATION
EFFORTS
Karen N. Johnson
How Manual Testers
Can Help with Test Automation Efforts
© Karen N. Johnson, 2016

2. About the Webinar
Overview:
As a manual software tester, you might think test automation is someone else’s job. But even as a manual
tester, you can help with test automation efforts in several ways especially if your team is using Cucumber.
First, you can be willing to read the English-friendly test scripts created in the “Given When Then” (GWT)
format (if your team is using Cucumber). As you review the automated test scripts, you can contribute ideas
and possibly look to write scripts in the future.
Second, you can start reading the more “code-like step definitions” behind the Cucumber scripts to
understand what and how the GWT scripts run.
Third, you can gain an appreciation for the work of test automation writers and that support can help move
test automation efforts forward. And as you read more and more of the scripts and code, you can continue to
offer ideas, suggest other items for automation – even if you don’t become a test script writer!
In this webinar, Karen will also review some of the roadblocks that face automation so that as a team tester –
whether your focus is manual testing or automation, you can help move your team’s testing efforts forward.
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

3. About the Speaker
Karen N. Johnson
• Software Test Consultant
• Published Author (Beautiful Testing)
• Teach Software Testing
• Speak at conferences
• Co-founder of WREST, the Workshop on Regulated Software Testing
• Website: www.karennicolejohnson.com or www.karennjohnson.com
• Twitter: @karennjohnson
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

4. How manual testers can help with test automation
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson,
2016

5.  Don’t think of automation as just the tool – there is more at stake
than the code itself, test automation is about getting to continuous
integration (CI)/continuous delivery (CD) or at least helping your
team get to more rapid delivery.
 Understand how the script writing part of automation is only one
part of the process. Other parts of the automation effort include
planning, maintaining and investigating when automation fails –
without learning how to code, you can still be involved in the
automation strategy.
Understand what automation tries to
solve
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

6.  Once you understand how the automation tool works, you can make
suggestions for additional automation.
 Remember test automation does not always have to be scripts that
mimic user behavior but could be utility scripts that help the testing
efforts in another way (such as setting up an environment or setting up
data for testing).
 Look for activities you repeat manually and ask whether those activities
can be automated.
Contribute ideas for automation
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

7.  Learn to run the automation tests – even if you cannot or have not written
the test scripts, this can help you be involved in the test automation effort.
 Offer to investigate errors found in automation to see if you can replicate
issues detected in automation.
 Offer to be the person who helps to keep automation up to date by being
mindful of product changes that impact existing automation.
Offer to run the automation suite
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

8.  Review the test automation scripts. You will learn more about
automation, more about the tool and feel less apart from the automation
efforts.
 You might be able to offer “code reviews” by having a fresh set of eyes,
you might be able to spot issues the automation writers missed.
 When you review the automation scripts, you can learn and realize how
complex it can be to build a helpful test automation script and that
realization can help you appreciate the efforts of your co-workers.
Review test automation
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

9. If your team is using Cucumber (a test automation tool), then part of the
automation has been written in GWT format. GWT was designed to be
highly readable. The actual “code” part of GWT is written in step
definitions which makes the flow of an automation script relatively easy
to read and separate from the code. Learning to read and think in GWT
format is a good first step to getting involved in test automation.
Learn the “Given When Then” (GWT)
format
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

10.  Although it may be intimidating at first, read through the test automation
scripts – hopefully you will find after awhile that at least some of the
information makes sense.
 As a manual tester try not to be intimidated by code – including test
automation code. Start by focusing on the concepts and not on the structure of
the code itself.
 While you’re learning how test automation code is constructed, you’ll also be
learning how code in general is structured and that understanding can help
you discover ideas about what needs to be tested for product you’re testing.
Learn to read code
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

11. Roadblocks to automation
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson,
2016

12.  Once the “approval” for automation is accomplished, the tool
purchased and the “automation tester” is ready to start, it is too
easy to “just get going” so be sure to build an automation
strategy.
 Begin with the end in mind.
Automation lacks a strategy
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

13.  Support for automation is needed from many people – not just
management for the budget of the tool or staff.
 A few ways to get the team involved:
 Keep your whole team “in the know” on what is being
automated.
 Include new automation as part of your team’s sprint demos.
 Encourage your team to include automation ideas as part of
the stories.
Automation efforts lack support
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

14.  Often I discover teams that move from having no automation to having so
much automation, they stop using automation on a daily basis or the
automation is no longer tied to the build process.
 Build automation with the end in mind. Using tagging and labeling as you
build a suite so the suite will be manageable. Be stringent about selecting
what tests are included in the automated regression suite.
 Use a rotation method/practice to run some tests intermittently.
The regression suite takes too long to
run
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

15. Sometimes teams don’t have their own automation engineer and a
centralized team might be providing automation. While inherently there is no
issue to this “solution” two things often occur:
 the team lacks a sense of ownership of the automation
 Instead have your team run the automation and “own” it once the automation
is delivered.
 the automation person misses the sense of what is most helpful
 Instead have your automation engineer attend as many team meetings as
possible, include the person in important team conversations.
Automation is an “add-on” to the team
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

16.  Design automation in such a way as to avoid dependence on the
user interface more than is needed.
 Build automation that is easy to update.
 Expect (schedule time) to update automation each sprint.
UI changes break automation
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

17.  Expect test automation maintenance as a task every Sprint.
 Keep automation current to avoid technical debt and to avoid waste.
That thing when … scripts fail and never get
fixed
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016

18. Website: www.karennicolejohnson.com or www.karennjohnson.com
Email: karen@karennjohnson.com Twitter: @karennjohnson
Thank you for attending. Any questions?
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016
Note the two
N’s in my email,
website and
Twitter handle.

19. Interesting resources
How Manual Testers Can Help with Automation Efforts © Karen N. Johnson, 2016
 See this three-page automation checklist for ideas on strategy: http://www.ministryoftesting.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/01/SmartBear-Test-Automation-Checklist-1.pdf
 Listen to Richard Bradshaw’s thoughts on using automation for more than “user replacement” in this
podcast:http://www.softwaretestpro.com/Item/5955/Richard-Bradshaw-Automation-in-
Testing/Automation-Testing-podcast You can follow Richard on Twitter as @FriendlyTester and Mark
Tomlinson as @mtomlins
 See Bret Pettichord’s ideas on automation success, note the problems and possible
solutions:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.471.9363&rep=rep1&type=pdf
 Read James Bach’s post on Agile & Automation. http://www.satisfice.com/presentations/agileauto.pdf
Particularly pay attend to “tool-supported testing” on page 8 and “tasks of the toolsmith” on page 10.
 Join a group on LinkedIn focused on test automation to understand what’s going on in the community.