What are the best ways to collaborate on test automation frameworks?

As with any Software Solution, agreeing the coding standards up front is key to successful collaboration, where everyone understands their responsibilities in building a robust framework. I believe it should follow pretty much the same standards as the System Under Test as it makes it easier for testers and developers to collaborate across repositories if the same standards are being expected. This would include full peer reviews, branching strategy, environment deployment and even unit testing where appropriate. The automation framework should be built into the CI/CD and should compile and run in a reasonable amount of time, failing the relevant release if necessary.

Collaboration on test automation frameworks is crucial for success. Employ version control systems like Git to manage and share code collaboratively. Use centralized repositories to store framework code and maintain a consistent structure. Regularly conduct code reviews to ensure quality, share knowledge, and identify improvements. Establish clear coding standards and documentation to facilitate understanding. Embrace communication tools for real-time discussions and updates. Foster a culture of collaboration, encouraging team members to share insights, challenges, and solutions. Automation framework collaboration thrives on transparency, effective communication, and a shared commitment to continuous improvement.

I'd say a lot of the important conversations need to be had before development even begins, and you have to be aware of the technical and organisational limitations for it be effective. If you need platform engineering help, are there people available to assist? Is pairing with developers possible? Who is the framework for? Is it an artefact that will be handed over, or is it a tool for the testers and the devs to use? Effective automation needs a solid basis in _testability_, and without right culture and people available to help, it can be doomed to fail!

Agree on goals: Make sure everyone agrees on what the framework should do and how it should be used. Assign roles: Give specific roles to different team members, such as lead developer, tester, and quality assurance engineer. Meet regularly: Schedule regular meetings to talk about progress, problems, and decisions. Write instructions: Write instructions on how to use, contribute to, and troubleshoot the framework. Listen to feedback: Be open to feedback from team members and make changes based on their input.

Here are some of the ways to collaborate on test automation frameworks: - Collaboration of all team members in deciding the phase and design of the automation framework. Discuss and decide the tools, framework, methodologies and practices best suited for your project needs. - Using a version control system like Git allows team members to manage the code easily even if they are all working on different parts of the framework. - By following coding standards, naming conventions and maintaining the proper indentation helps to contribute to the framework easily. - By documenting the design architecture, usage guidelines and APIs to facilitate the easier understanding and further onboarding of the new members.

Establishing coding standards and guidelines is a critical step. I think we should remember about: - involve the entire team - developers, testers, and other stakeholders. This ensures that the guidelines reflect the collective expertise and preferences of the team. - document guidelines thoroughly - include examples and explanations to assist team members in understanding and applying the defined practices - provide training and support - offer training sessions or documentation to help team members understand and implement the standards effectively. - regularly review and update standards - to reflect changes in technology, best practices, and project requirements.

Al establecer estándares y directrices de codificación en la automatización de pruebas, es crucial adoptar prácticas que promuevan la claridad, mantenibilidad y reutilización del código. Esto incluye definir convenciones de nomenclatura coherentes, directrices de estilo de codificación y prácticas de documentación efectivas. Incorporar revisiones de código regulares y análisis de calidad del código automatizados ayuda a mantener un alto nivel de calidad y coherencia. Además, es beneficioso fomentar un enfoque de codificación modular y orientado a objetos, lo que facilita la reutilización de código y reduce la duplicación.

You will need unit tests for libraries and linting can help keep things readable and compliant. Peer review is becoming the norm before branch merged. Security audit would be best to prevent things like exposing data in logging or having to broad access that is not needed. If you are following a strategy as a team you will need to review code against it to ensure you are following a common approach to things beyond simple standards and coding styles as test automation can be quite fluid and have broad applications and uses.

When I think about version control what comes to mind is that tests will work on a span of versions and might not work on others - so if you can implant tagging or organize your suites with this in mind it would be helpful if code is ever reverted or new versions break tests.

El uso efectivo del control de versiones y la gestión de la configuración en la automatización de pruebas es esencial para una colaboración eficaz y un desarrollo coherente. Implementar un sistema de control de versiones, como Git, permite a los equipos rastrear cambios en el código de pruebas y facilita la colaboración. Paralelamente, una gestión de configuración robusta garantiza consistencia en los entornos de pruebas, utilizando herramientas como Docker o Kubernetes para automatizar y estandarizar entornos. Esta combinación mejora la eficiencia, reduce errores, y asegura pruebas estables y escalables.

This provides fast feedback and team visibility- in fact some teams will not accept test executions that happen locally from your machine - they want traceability, evidence of results, and a means to analyze what has happened. Tests can run on schedule or on environment changes or ad hoc. It can be part of a completely automated pipeline but this will vary from team to team. I have never worked on a project that is doing full CI/CD so it may not be representative of the majority of projects.

La implementación de la integración y entrega continuas (CI/CD) en la automatización de pruebas es un enfoque que transforma el desarrollo de software. En CI/CD, la integración continua juega un rol crucial, donde cada cambio en el código se prueba automáticamente para una detección temprana de errores. Esto agiliza el proceso de desarrollo y reduce el tiempo dedicado a resolver problemas complejos. Por otro lado, la entrega continua automatiza el despliegue de software, facilitando lanzamientos más rápidos y confiables. La adopción de herramientas como Jenkins y GitLab CI/CD es esencial en este proceso, proporcionando automatización eficiente de pruebas y despliegues, así como una monitorización constante.

The definition of "done" needs to include QA. The product is a tested product and this testing is part of the product. Be visual and be value oriented. Recordings of outliers allow developers to be proactive and have console-level debug information to speed up patching. Ensure business can look at the outcomes of the tests over time, not just see a "QA passed" in a ticket. How many user behaviors does the test cover, how much time do tests save across manual testing. Instill confidence by presenting the capabilities of tests as an advocate for product and user.

In reality it’s tough to talk about testing and automation with stakeholders - most of the time they trust the engineers to get it done and don’t care much about the details. If they do want the details do share high level how things are accomplished and document it - obviously if they need to replace you you want to leave enough information for your successor to pick it up and run with it. If you are successful you will end up having to train a few people so always keep this in mind.

En mi enfoque hacia la automatización de pruebas, he encontrado que la comunicación y colaboración efectiva con las partes interesadas es vital. Establezco canales de comunicación claros, como reuniones regulares y actualizaciones por herramientas de gestión de proyectos, para mantener a todos informados y comprometidos. Involucrar activamente a las partes interesadas en las revisiones de pruebas y en las decisiones clave asegura que el producto final cumpla con sus expectativas. Este enfoque ágil en la comunicación no solo mejora la calidad del software, sino que también fortalece nuestra colaboración, creando un entorno de trabajo más eficiente y adaptativo

Do you mean collaborate for the automation of test scripts or test automation frameworks? Ideally, it is a testing strategy that is extended to the automation of certain selected test scripts. To manage and implement automation better, the following can help: - Understand your end-to-end system architecture in detail. It will help you plan and execute the testing scope better. - Finalize what you want to automate (UI, API, DB) and how your backlog will look like - Careful select automation libraries like Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Rest-assured - Your framework should be designed to work with multiple libraries and a common interface - Plan version control to have multiple testers check in the code - Tie with CD pipeline

These are all excellent suggestions. I would add that, based on my experience, having a platform that integrates all of the aspects talked about here will pay dividends once your initiative gets going. A platform for test automation would include and make available to its users: 1. A common way to create test cases 2. A common way to create “actions” (the things that your users do with the application) 3. A common way to code these actions and linking them to their non code counterparts 4. A common way to group the test cases and to execute them 5. A common way to integrate with CI/CD systems 6. A common way to store results in a common result repository (e.g. Elastic Search) 7. A common way to handle test data. Ping me for examples.