Valuable feedback, fast

If you asked me to define the goal of test automation, or the use of tools to support our testing activities, my answer would be simple:

“To provide valuable feedback, fast”

While that goal sounds simple enough, I have seen many teams and organizations struggle to achieve it in the two decades that I’ve been active in the field. I have also noticed that often, teams try to address their test automation challenges by looking for better tools.

However, while choosing the right tool for the job is an important part of a solid test automation strategy, introducing a new tool or replacing an existing one alone is often not enough to fix the problem at hand.

Almost every time, test automation problems go deeper than just the tool. Often, they are of both a technical and an organizational nature. Wouldn’t it be wise to approach and address them like that, then?

There is a wide range of training material out there for people who would like to become more proficient with a specific tool or test automation technique, and I offer those, too.

However, if you would like to learn what it takes to get your test automation to deliver valuable feedback, fast, and how to address the technical and the organizational challenges that keep you from getting there, there is a lot less on offer.

The ‘Valuable feedback, fast’ course fills that void.

In this three-day, immersive, hands-on course, you will examine, discuss and find solutions to real-world test automation problems by following the journey of a (fictional) company as they try to achieve their goal of ‘valuable feedback, fast’.

Along the way, you will learn, among many other things, how to:

• use the Five Ws to take a holistic look at your test automation strategy before we address the ‘how?’
• use the test automation quadrant to assess your current automation efforts and identify directions for improvement
• how to identify improvements and advocate for changes in your test automation strategy
• how to run experiments with changes in your current approach, how to introduce new tools, techniques and ways of working, and how to measure their success

As we address both the technical and the organizational aspects of succeeding with test automation, the exercises in this course reflect that. As a participant, you will:

• contribute to facilitated discussions, investigating and performing root cause analysis of test automation problems
• deliver short presentations on your findings and advocating for your ideas
• complete a range of hands-on, technical test automation challenges to implement your suggestions for improvement
• measure and report on the impact of these experiments

Note: a more detailed breakdown of the contents of the course will become available soon.

Intended audience and prerequisite knowledge

This course is for software development and testing practitioners, as well as tech and team leads, who want to learn how to be successful with test automation and how to achieve its goal of ‘valuable feedback, fast’.

The technical, hands-on exercises are presented in Java, C# and TypeScript, so some familiarity with any of those languages will be advantageous. Even without that experience, though, there is a lot to get out of this course, and the technical exercises are presented in a way such that everybody will be able to follow along. Pair and ensemble programming will be recommended, and examples and (my) answers to the challenges will be available throughout the course.

Delivery and group size

Due to the experiential nature of the course, I strongly prefer running it on site, in person. The maximum group size is 25 participants. There is no minimum group size, but having at least 6 participants contributes to better discussions through a wider range of backgrounds, ideas and prior experience.

If you would like to book me to teach this course in your organization, or if you have any additional questions, please email bas@ontestautomation.com or use the contact form on this page.

For an overview of all training courses I have on offer, please visit the main training page.