Janicke Eilertsen, EVRY Consulting AS

Automate testing? You’ll Need Interpersonal Skills

@esconfs#esconfs

Automation is easy.

It is dealing with people and organizations that is difficult.

Office Politics is NOT a dirty word

Office Politics

It is about acting honestly and with integrity

Goodwill

Building trust and relations

Thinking strategically

If test automation is to be a success you need to build a lot of goodwill.

In space, noone can hear you test

Reporting…

Get it right from the start

Only do the minimum you can get away with

Dashboard

Wall charts

Summary mail

The whole project need to know the current status ALL THE TIME. When they do, they leave youto automate.

Do NOT mention the war!

All test acronymes are verboten; TDD, BDD, ATDD

Avoid at all cost names of test tools; FitNesse, SpecFlow, Nunit, etc. (While you are at it, avoidAgile, Scrum, Definition of Done as well.)

Do NOT talk about test plans and test strategies and test approaches unless you are specificallyasked!

Get your test fix, and keep sane, amongst other testers.

Best tip ever:

Just start your thing and see what happens.

You will never be given enough time for test automation

You need to claim, beg, snatch and borrow time to get test automation started

Use downtime

Cut down on documentation

Drop boring meetings

You will by now have the goodwill to get started

Let’s talk about bugs, baby!

Bugs…

Find them quickly by:

Encouraging a no-blame culture

Make bug-hunting fun

Spend time pair-bughunting

Spend time pair-programming automated tests

Report on bugs and defects, even when you are agile

As you gain more automation experience, bugs let you know where to concentrate your effort.

If you are spending ALL your time writingautomated tests, you are doing it wrong!

However, if you spend SOME of your time onBeing an all round great girl/guy around the office

Reporting just enough information

Zipping it when it comes to test

Finding ways to get time for test automation

Spend some time working in pairs

Chances are you are doing it right!

Summary: Some interpersonal skills needed

In relation to Do you have the following skills Check

Office politics Honesty, integrity, authority, influence

others

In space noone can

hear you test

Communication, persuation, working

in teams, listening

Do NOT mention the

war

Silence is golden!!!

Time to automate Working in pairs, sharing the

spotlight, letting go

Bugs Sense of humor, tenacity, diplomacy,

a lot of chocolate and/or beer

Read more about it!

Office Politics Nice Girls Don’t Get The Corner Office,

Lois P Frankel, Hatchenne Book Group

USA, 2004

In space, noone can

hear you test

Check out Michael Bolton, Lloyd Rhoden

online

Do NOT mention the

war

Specification by Example, Gojko Azdic,

Manning, 2011

Let me know what you think!

• Janicke Eilertsen works as a Senior Test Consultant for EVRY Consulting AS in Oslo, Norway. She has worked with IT since the 90’s. For the last decade she has mostly been working with Change Management and testing, for the last 3 years exclusively with test automation. She still cannot believe she is paid to work on something that is so much fun!

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