Deciding What Tests to Automate

Deciding What Tests to Automate Bridget Hughes March 16, 2022

February 14, 2026 · 5 min read · Testing Guide

Deciding What Tests to Automate

Bridget Hughes
March 16, 2022

Quality engineering is a set of pattern that grant package development teams to produce high quality software in faster, more iterative sprints, including planning, testing, analysis, and supervise throughout the DevOps pipeline. A key component of this is an effective package testing strategy that uses both manual and automated try to insure quality throughout the package growing lifecycle. But how can QA teams, especially those with limited experience in test automation, decide what test to automatize? & nbsp;

Understanding the Strengths of Manual Testing and Test Automation

Choosing between test automation and manual examination is ofttimes depicted as an all-or-nothing decision, a misconception that often leave choice assurance squad gun-shy about try automated examination. But for most organization, acombination of the twois much the best access for fast, morequality-drivengrowing. The challenge is progress a package screen strategy that tackle the strengths of each technique for maximum wallop. Too much manual testing and character teams risk spend too many citizenry hours on repetitive task, potentially slack down development. Conversely, if they focus too much on automated testing, they gamble overlooking errors outside the potentiality of examination automation. & nbsp;

Manual Testing: Boldly Going Where No Test Has Gone Before 

Manual testing is the tried-and-true software quality strategy for a reason: manual testing is crucial to building product knowledge, identifying bugs that only occur in specific fortune, and understanding the true user experience. QA specializer that focus primarily or exclusively on manual quiz provide valuable feedback on how the product looks and look to users that may be navigating it for the first time. & nbsp;

As quality engineering teams build out a intercrossed manual and automated testing scheme, manual testing serves as the foundation for expanding testing and understanding the customer perspective. Software quizzer are capable to use their product expertness to build test plans for new features and collaborate with developers to solve tricky package bugs. & nbsp;

Test Automation: Confidence, Reliability, and Coverage & nbsp;

Automated examination, meanwhile, provides consistent feedback on product quality for continuous melioration and faster development. In the early degree of quality engineering, QA teams are able to automatize critical end-to-end and regression tests that take up lots of package testers ’ time, allow them to switch centering to expanding their testing strategy and. As an organization ’ s quality engineering practice matures, test automation ensures that the product uphold to work as expected, monitors, and provides rapid feedback oncode earlyin the software development lifecycle. & nbsp;

Determining What Tests to Automate 

Like most quality quests, the process of deciding what tests to automate starts with a serial of questions. Rather than plan their tryout automation strategy around the capabilities of their testing tool, these head help channelise software development organizations develop machine-controlled tests that fit their workflows, product, and customers. By focusing on the end goal - & nbsp; better software quality and a delightful exploiter experience - QA teams can ensure that they ’ re create the most of their test automation solution. & nbsp;

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What Tests Take the Most Time?

DataRobot Director of Engineering Meghan Elledge when she describe her approach to inclose automation: “ If I have to do something twice, I ’ m already thinking about how to automatize the third time. ” Many quality assurance teams can begin automate tests with the same outlook. If a software development establishment is dedicating a orotund portion of screen hours to repetitive tests like end-to-end testing or regression testing, those examination are prize opportunities for automation. & nbsp;

Regression try or end-to-end test for the nearly democratic user journeys are ideal for exam automation because they mainly serve to assert that existing features are working. Assuming that the basic covering architecture doesn ’ t change, those tests are potential to rest relatively stable, minimizingpossible maintenance. This allows QA squad to save the maximal amount of time and testify ROI fairly apace.

Where Can Test Coverage Be Improved?

Test coverage is a tried-and-true bill of success for any software testing scheme, and increasingly, for an organization ’ s total character engineering practice. Accurate test coverage is indispensable for ensuring that a team ’ s quiz scheme reflects the true customer experience and jibe how the application under exam is built. & nbsp;

QA squad evaluating where to implement trial automation can start by understanding examination reportage over their most popular user journeys. In the causa of mabl customer Sensormatic, automating play a large purpose in allowing them to increase automated trial reporting from40 % to 80 %. Considering that78 % of marketing departmentshave understand an increase in email troth in the last 12 month, and 99 % of consumers see their email every day, expanding test coverage to include democratic customer pathways like e-mail is an excellent starting point for exam automation. & nbsp; & nbsp;

How Can Software Testing Better Reflect The Product?

There are approximately200 million APIspresently in use today, a number that ’ s turn rapidly as more developer turn to third party package to build and manage their applications. Yet there are few convenient manner to manually test APIs. At better, QA specialists can navigate through popular customer journeys and hope that they catch low APIs in the process. But considering how unpredictable many APIs are - Salesforce, for example, is updates & nbsp; without warning - relying solely on manual examine isn ’ t enough to manage endangerment in an API-dependent existence. Taking an stock of how an organization builds their product, such as APIs, other integrating, and open-source components, give software prove teams utilitarian insights in where their package testing scheme can acquire with exam mechanization.

Helping Quality Engineering Teams Optimize Testing

Finding a salubrious proportionality between manual examination and automatize testing enables calibre engineering teams to expand their software testing scheme, closely supervise the customer experience, and support faster software development. Though many QA team are but starting their test mechanisation efforts, understanding the complementary roles of manual examination and test automation provides a solid foundation for inspect an existing software screen scheme and identifying opportunities for automation to cover more of the customer journey or help QA teams best contemplate the evolution of the product. & nbsp;

Start building a high-impact package testing strategy with mabl 's 14 daycomplimentary trialand see what your team can achieve with low-code test automation. & nbsp;

Quality Engineering Resources

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