Does agility still require traditional automated testing tools?

Recently, discussions about the development direction of the next generation of functional testing tools have become a hot topic. However, many organizations are still trying to keep up with the traditional "recording-Playback" testing tool.Agile pace. Called"Test madman"Elisabeth HendricksonTell themWhy not waste your time.

Hendrickson summarized her views as follows:

Why traditional, recording-playback, heavyweight, and commercial testing automation solutions cannot be agile
Three reasons:

1. For agile teams, the "Last retest" workflow encouraged by similar tools is totally incorrect.
2. Scripts created by similar tools that cannot be maintained will become obstacles to changes required by agility.
3. Such specific tools will require specialized automated testing experts, so they will form a single fight.

Hendrickson first describes how the "last re-test" method of the "Recording-Playback" tool is difficult to succeed, regardless of whether the project is agile. She explains why this is especially harmful to agile projects. In agile projects, the "Last-tested" workflow should have at least the following problems:

• Waste:The same information is repeated in manual and automated regression tests. In fact, it is also repeated elsewhere. However, we can focus on manual and automated testing.
• Feedback delay:In such a workflow, a large number of tests are performed manually. That is to say, it takes several days or even weeks to discover the effects of the original changes. If our sprint was four weeks, it would be unacceptable to wait three to four weeks for the regression test results.

...... Further, the "test again" tool cannot support"Acceptance Test driven development)". The testing tools required by the agile team must support the "first test" method and can start automated testing immediately.

Hendrickson explains how test scripts lay the foundation for these "Recording-Playback" testing tools and inevitably lead to chaos like Italy, by mixing business expectations and specific implementation details in the UI code, agile projects can easily become a nightmare of maintenance. She simply said:

Agile teams need tools that can separate the actual business content and implementation details to be tested.Such separationIs a sign of good design and can increase maintainability.

Next, to a large extent, in consideration of high costs and code ownership needs, typical "Recording playback" tools direct most organizations to the creation of proprietary "automated testing expert" groups, and they are authorized to take charge of automated monitoring testing. Hendrickson stressed how this approach hinders the collaboration methods required for effective agility.

Agile teams can improve work efficiency by breaking the single-stick situation, which cannot be accomplished by some so-called automated testing "superhero. That is to say, automated testing is a task that requires collaboration. Business stakeholders, analysts, and black box testers can make contributions to the test in an automated manner (such as fit tables; the programmer is responsible for writing code to associate testing with implementation.

At last, Hendrickson discussed the agile team.YesWhat kind of automated testing tools should end:

The automated testing tools or frameworks required by the agile team should look like this:

• To support the "first test" method, you can start the automated test immediately.
• The actual business content to be tested is separated from the implementation details.
• Supports and encourages good programming practices in the coding part required for automated testing.
• Supports the use of real development languages and real ide To write automated test code.
• Promote collaboration.

Fit,FitnesseAnd related tools can fulfill the above requirements.

It is worth some time to readElisebeth Hendrickson this complete blog postTo gain a better understanding of her ideas and experiences. You can also readBrian marrick's blogFor more information aboutAgile TestingExpert-level suggestions.

View Original English text:Why traditional test-automation tools stifle agility.TranslatorZheng Ke was released onWww.infoq.com/cn/news/2008/05/testobsessed-agile-auto-testing