Consulting

Being successful with test automation requires more, much more than throwing tools at problems. I can help you dig deeper into your automation efforts, identify and resolve bottlenecks, and craft and implement a holistic test automation strategy, based on the 5W1H or Kipling method.

• Why are you investing your time, effort and money in test automation? What does the goal of obtaining valuable feedback, fast look like for you?
• What testing tasks or types of tests are you going to automate? Regression tests? Test data preparation? Something else? What are you not going to automate?
• When are you going to write, run and maintain your test code and assets? How are you going to make sure that happens as close to development as possible?
• Where are you going to automate? Which components, systems and layers lend themselves well to automation? How can you improve testability to be able to break down your E2E tests where possible?
• Who is going to write and maintain the automation? Testers? Developers? The team? Does the skill set of these people match these ambitions?
• How are you going to automate? What are the tools you have to or want to use? Which common test automation patterns will be helpful? How are you going to automate the process of running tests and reporting on results?

Example consulting engagement

Here’s what working with me could look like. However, I am happy to craft a customized proposal to align with your specific requirements.

If you would like to have a chat and see how I can help you, please contact me using the contact form on this site, or email me at bas@ontestautomation.com. I’m looking forward to working with you.

Phase 1: Diagnose

Timeline: 1-2 weeks

Purpose: Assess your current test automation strategy to uncover key bottlenecks and build a targeted learning plan that sets up your team for faster, more reliable delivery.

Key Activities:

• Conduct stakeholder interviews across development, product, and tech leadership
• Audit current test automation strategy using the aforementioned 5W1H or Kipling method
• Identify product and process bottlenecks and pain points

Deliverables:

• Audit report of your test automation strategy, covering all aspects of the 5W1H strategy, so you know what’s going well and where there’s room for improvement
• Strategic roadmap containing actionable next steps, so you can start improving your test automation efforts right away
• Up to five (5) 60-min stakeholder interviews across development teams and tech leadership to surface pain points, goals, and alignment gaps across teams.

Phase 2: Upskill

Timeline: 2-4 weeks

Purpose: Upskill your development team with hands-on training in modern test automation practices, so they can confidently implement improvements.

Key Activities:

• Create bespoke learning plans for your development team(s)
• Facilitate interactive workshops and targeted training sessions to give your engineers the skills they need
• Get hands-on experience with new test automation tools and technique, using real project scenarios

Deliverables:

• Bespoke learning plans for development teams, so engineers know exactly what they need to learn to improve automation value, efficiency, and coverage, and how to apply that in their context.
• Up to eight (8) hands-on, practical, 4-hour workshops for up to 12 team members, so your team builds practical test automation skills they can immediately apply on the job.
• Workshop summaries and reference materials so your team can revisit key concepts, reinforce learning, and apply skills long after the training ends.

Phase 3: Execute

Timeline: 6-12 weeks

Purpose: Apply the skills learned in the previous phase to address the challenges identified in phase 1 and make tangible steps towards you getting more valuable feedback, faster.

Key Activities:

• Run pair- and ensemble programming sessions to implement the improvements in your technology stack
• Introduce new tools and techniques that support the updated automation strategy
• Improve your test automation code to make your tests more efficient and easier to read and maintain

Deliverables:

• An initial suite of automated tests providing valuable feedback, fast, under version control, running in a build pipeline.
• 1-2 weekly pair or ensemble programming sessions (2-4 hours in length) with your development team, so we can apply the learnings from the Upskill phase in real time and resolve the technical bottlenecks uncovered during Diagnose.
• On-the-job coaching through pair programming that builds long-term ownership, so your team can confidently maintain and extend your automation suite independently.