Iain McCowatt - Automation Time to Change Our Models - EuroSTAR 2013

Iain McCowatt, UK

Automation:

Time to Change Our Models?

www.eurostarconferences.com

@esconfs#esconfs

Blah

Blah?

Blah, blah!

Where we look

What we notice

How we construct understanding

Festival Spectacles

Replacement

Whole Tests

Repeatability

Maintainability

Flikr/jurvetson

An instrument

Examine Exhibit A

(based on a real RFP)

What constraints might these introduce?

What types of testing/tooling might these rule out?

• Tests must be fully automated…

• Test case identifiers must refer to the manual test case that has been replaced…

• All tests shall be run as part of the automated build process…

• Tests should remove any data generatedduring the course of execution…

• Each test must be deterministic …

• Each test must be idempotent

Rule, and tool, driven constraints

Goal displacement

Homogeneity

Absorbent Minds

Opposites & false dichotomies

Different spectacles

Remember “why?”

MnemonicsFestival Spectacles

Analyse

Install & Configure

Drive

Predict

Observe

Reconcile

Evaluate

“Hell! There ain’t no rules around here! We’re tryin’ to accomplish somep’n!.” – Thomas Edison