Web Test Automation Clarified. Part D: Combined

Putting it all together — misconceptions and pitfalls in web test automation.

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In earlier articles of this series, I explained the meaning of each term in Web Test Automation:

• Web → open, standard, and easy to understand.
• Test → objectivity and independence.
• Automation → speed, visibility, objectivity, and cost-effectiveness.

Few disagree, right?

However, when the three are combined into Web Test Automation, much of that meaning is often distorted. Odd practices counter to the core principles of Web Test Automation have emerged — and are often widely accepted. For example:

1. Senior Software Engineers decide which automation test framework and scripting language to use.

This is against the “independence” in “Test”.

Software testing exists to verify the work of developers. End-to-end testing, in particular, validates the application from the end-user’s perspective. In other words, this is not the developers’ playground. So why should testers be forced to…