Session Title: Automation Isn't All Shiny Toys
Speaker: Jim Homes, Test Evangelist, Telerik
Date: Thursday, December 13, 2012
Time: 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM PT
Building a suite of automated tests for your project is a critical aspect of success.It can also be a contributor to your project’s failure if you don’t approach testing with the same care you take with the system you’re delivering. This session covers fundamental topics including setting up the right infrastructure, treating your test code the same as your production code, dealing with maintainability issues, and handling long-running test suites. We also cover why collaborating with developers can get you great benefits such as backing APIs and assistance with good test design.
We'll also cover more advanced topics such as wrapping combinatorial or pairwise approaches to help you cut your testability matrices while still keeping great coverage.
The talk is targeted primarily at functional tests; however, we’ll also discuss how the same concepts apply to integration and unit tests. You’ll leave this talk having learned practical, proven ways to avoid common automation pitfalls.
This talk is based on my years of work with automation teams on a number of different platforms, plus discussing shared pain, failures, and successes with others passionate about the value automation brings to every software project.
About Jim Holmes
Jim Holmes is the Test Studio Evangelist at Telerik. He has over 25 years in the IT field in positions including PC technician, WAN manager, customer relations manager, developer, and yes, tester. He’s previously held jobs in the DOD, software consulting domain, and commercial software product sectors. He’s been a long-time advocate of test automation, and has delivered software on a wide range of platforms. He co-authored the book Windows Developer Power Tools and blogs frequently at http://FrazzledDad.com. He’s also the President of the Board of Directors for the CodeMash conference, held at an indoor waterpark in Sandusky, Ohio in the middle of winter.