Comments on: The Myth of the Automatic Automated Benefit http://qahatesyou.com/wordpress/2009/03/the-myth-of-the-automatic-automated-benefit/ You suspected it. Now you know it. Tue, 15 May 2012 21:22:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: scarytester http://qahatesyou.com/wordpress/2009/03/the-myth-of-the-automatic-automated-benefit/comment-page-1/#comment-141 scarytester Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:35:08 +0000 http://qahatesyou.com/wordpress/2009/03/31/the-myth-of-the-automatic-automated-benefit/#comment-141 It's really difficult to explain this concept to managers without getting the "why don't you want to do your job, you lazy tester?" kind of response. A lot of managers seem to want automated tests simply because somebody told them that it's what all the cool companies are doing these days. Then they want all tests 100% automated. Drives me batty because it's so hard to explain to people who know very little about testing or automation. I keep trying to think of an appropriate metaphor for it but there just doesn't seem to be one. It's even worse when the person concerned thinks that testing is a completely clueless job where you just follow exact test steps like a drone all day. If you think about it, it's pretty insulting when someone implies that the work you do can be replaced by a couple of Selenium scripts. But yes, this kind of rant is exactly why I wrote the article in a more textbook-style positive way, because ranting generally just gets you labeled as "negative", whereas stating facts like a 6th grade science project sometimes makes people listen. Which is a shame, because ranting is way more fun. It’s really difficult to explain this concept to managers without getting the “why don’t you want to do your job, you lazy tester?” kind of response. A lot of managers seem to want automated tests simply because somebody told them that it’s what all the cool companies are doing these days. Then they want all tests 100% automated.

Drives me batty because it’s so hard to explain to people who know very little about testing or automation. I keep trying to think of an appropriate metaphor for it but there just doesn’t seem to be one. It’s even worse when the person concerned thinks that testing is a completely clueless job where you just follow exact test steps like a drone all day. If you think about it, it’s pretty insulting when someone implies that the work you do can be replaced by a couple of Selenium scripts.

But yes, this kind of rant is exactly why I wrote the article in a more textbook-style positive way, because ranting generally just gets you labeled as “negative”, whereas stating facts like a 6th grade science project sometimes makes people listen. Which is a shame, because ranting is way more fun.

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