Jan Jaap Cannegieter, Squerist B.V.
In different crafts, we have seen that the introduction of technology leads to diminishing skills. I will start the presentation with a true story about the Inuit and what happened to a unique skill they had when technology was introduced. This is also true for testing; with the introduction of test automation, the quality of testing (coverage, debt, and insight) decreases in a lot of organizations. I will share this message and I will share some test-related examples (including some test code with false positives and false negatives) to make this clear.
In the second part of the presentation I will explain the five most common misunderstandings when it comes to test automation (the wish to automate everything, the wish to save money with test automation, the thought automation makes testing easier, the expectation every tester should learn how to program and the idea that automation means tooling). The different misunderstandings will be explained using examples and experiences.
In the last part of the presentation, I will show there is an alternative for the dark side, I will describe what it takes to introduce test automation in the right way. This requires basically two different things: a mature testing process and the need to have different roles and skills in your team. The diversity of knowledge and skills is what it comes down to.
Jan Jaap Cannegieter, 2019 Invited Speaker, Slides
