Automated testing ensures quality and saves time

Dennis Tijbosch - Lets Protect

Automated testing has emerged as a standard for saving time and ensuring quality within the software development process of many companies. Still not all companies are writing automated tests, and this is a big mistake. Of course it all comes down to what kind of application or system you are building, but overall it can save you a lot of time and resources. According to several studies on the subject, automated testing is a necessity and helps with increasing the overall quality. There are multiple ways to write automated tests, all depending on what programming language you are using, what platform is being used for storing data, frameworks and design patterns, the size of your project and more. It can be hard to decide what kind of tests you have to write and use. No matter what kind of project you are going to work on, automated testing is always an option available to you, and it would be a good move to start using the advantages of them right now.

Turn testing into an investment

It is 2018 at the moment, and a lot of IT companies are still wasting valuable time. Testing is a very important aspect of the development process, but the time that is necessary to cover all the important code of your project can be frustrating to deal with. Automated testing provides you with all the tools you need to cut the amount of time needed to test your project. To understand why and how automated testing can help you cut testing time, let's consider some of the pros of using automated testing. If you automate the testing process, even if you only automate a part of it, you can decrease the testing time since not everything has to be tested manually. You gain more control over your project and can easily find bugs within the code and fix them immediately. Automated testing is also transparent and accessible for everyone within the company. Since successful tests will turn green and failed tests turn red, it is easy to understand for everyone.   

EKA TechServ, a company specialized in testing and knowledge management services, estimates the differences in time between manual testing and automated testing. They also discuss the disadvantages such as not being able to automate usability testing or security testing, which leads to the fact that two testing processes are required when you use automated tests within your project. I think EKA TechServ is mistaken because tests like usability tests can only be done properly when you are sure the code is correct. Automated tests will increase the change that the usability tests or security tests will succeed.

Looking at the research from EKA TechServ, I agree that automated testing can save you a lot of time and ensures quality because my personal experience at multiple different companies confirms it. Some programmers from within my personal life like to persuade me to change my opinion. They claim that writing tests is not saving time because writing the tests incorrectly leads to the fact that the code is still not tested correctly and it has to be done again manually, but we do not need them to tell us that. Anyone familiar with the IT business has long known that writing tests is part of the programming language itself. This means it can be learned and has to go to a review section in order to be added to the list of tests that are going to be part of the testing process. James O Coplien, a writer, lecturer and researcher also claims that writing Unit Tests, which is one of the most popular ways to implement automated tests within your project, is a waste of time. He claims that automated tests do not improve quality or save time, but the developers do. I agree that automated testing cannot replace manual testing completely, but I do think it helps you saving time and ensure quality. 

Given the advantages of automated testing, a good way to learn automated testing is using Continuous Integration within your project. This is an example of automated testing that you can use for ensuring quality and saving time due to the following benefits:

• Impactful and clear testing during the development process as well, instead of testing everything at the end.
• Gaining more control over your own project.
• Transparent and accessible visuals that are easy to understand for every programmer within the company. 
• A good coverage percentage.

Besides the advantages listed above, the most important advantage you are going to experience might be access to improved maintenance. When you have control over your project and all tests are running correctly, changing your code will be easier since bugs can show up as soon as the written tests are finished running. Automated testing is an investment in the future. 

Wrapping Up

The conclusion for developers is clear: Automated testing can save you time and ensures quality. Bugs can be found more easily, you can use your time more efficiently since testing will not take as much time after everything is set and done, and maintenance will be easier to manage and control. Step zero is the place to start. Even if you only walk up that first step, your testing process will be in a much better situation than before.

I would highly recommend using automated testing within your project, but everything comes at a cost. In order to make use of automated testing, you need to set up an efficient and good working testing environment. It will take some time to set up and adapt if you have never worked like this before, but it will be worth the time in the long run.