Six Steps to Master End-to-End Test Automation, Part 2: Get Motivated *

From “We Should” to “We Will”.

Six Steps to Master Test Automation Series:

• Part 1: Witness the real

• Part 2: Get Motivated

• Part 3: Learn Proactively (upcoming)

• Part 4: Practise persistently (upcoming)

• Part 5: Apply E2E test automation at work, gradually (upcoming)

• Part 6: Learn by Teaching (upcoming)

• Part 7: FAQ (upcoming)

End-to-end test automation isn’t new—it’s been around for more than 30 years (remember WinRunner or QTP?). Yet many software professionals still view E2E automation as ineffective, largely due to widespread failures. That’s why the first step—seeing it work in reality—is so critical.

How did I open my eyes?

In 2005, I was extremely fortunate to have a chance to pair program with a world-renowned software engineer. From him, I learned:

• Unit testing with mocks

• Efficient Refactoring (coding without using a mouse, all keyboard shortcuts)

• End-to-End Test Automation

• Continuous Integration

• Design Simple (which is very hard)

• Ruby!

all within six weeks!

For the first time, I saw the real great benefits of real test automation—benefits that go far beyond testing—and decided to pursue it. For the full story, see my article “My Test Automation Journey”.

Below is a recent execution of my WhenWise regression test suite: 605 raw Selenium WebDriver tests. After getting the green run, I push the build to production.

Run a suite of 605 automated E2E (Selenium) tests on a BuildWise CT server, with 5 build agents.

Also, I recommend a great presentation: “Continuous Integration at Facebook”.

Many people choose not to get out of their comfort zone

Thanks to the Internet, getting knowledge nowadays has never been easier. The now problem is “How to filter out the real and useful information and effectively apply them?”