Maximum value from automation in testing

Much automation in testing could have a much higher value to the team and the organisation, but many factors work against it, both within and outside the team. Besides an unhelpful infatuation with tools, other important factors are having no business-oriented goal, overlooking important issues, and not having a (realistic) plan. These strategic issues are easy to resolve by taking steps that are usually skipped:
– Make people aware that a business-oriented goal is needed and select the right one. (After all, will the business dance on their desks when you tell them you have achieved 100% regression test coverage, for example? No? Then that is not a helpful goal to use.) There are only five goals to choose from, and once you pick one it can guide every decision relating to automation toward high value from automation for your situation.
– Using the available free list of questions, create a complete picture of what is needed to achieve your goal – your automation vision. This includes factors in the areas of (automation as a) Product, People, Processes, Execution, and Techniques. Some factors involve more than one team. You can even assess (and later monitor) your situation using the free improvement model.
– Have a plan to implement the vision step by step. This can be a roadmap or a backlog, whatever you normally use. Use the plan to monitor your progress toward your goal.
– Check regularly if the plan, the vision, or even the goal need adjusting.

This talk will involve the audience through a number of questions to take them along in the process. A concrete example situation will be used to illustrate the steps. The slides will be highly graphical for the best understanding, with little text.