Implement a Unified Runtime Architecture for Test Automation: QE TechTalk Highlights

Arpita Goala , Content Marketing Manager

August 30th, 2024

In the continuous quest to raise the bar on software quality, product teams often find it difficult to avoid trade-offs between release speed and test coverage. 

One of the more significant sources of trade-off tension is associated with test automation runtimes. Achieving the necessary device coverage during testing often requires teams to seek out multiple device cloud providers with different strengths across security, geolocation, device types, and support for alternative test automation frameworks. 

However, multiple runtimes for a test automation suite can negatively impact release velocity due to the inherently fragmented process of executing, interpreting, and actioning test results from disparate tools. 

Testlio’s latest Quality Engineering (QE) TechTalk, hosted by Emeka Obianwu, VP of Alliances, features insights from Senior Quality Engineer Pavel Fleischer and unpacks how software teams can avoid speed bottlenecks associated with multi-sourcing test automation runtimes. 

Here are some of the key takeaways from this technical thought leadership discussion. 

Key Highlights from the QE TechTalk

A Unified Workflow Across Runtimes is Necessary

One of the first steps to overcoming the challenges of multi-sourcing automation runtimes is establishing a shared expectation of a unified workflow for results triage. 

Test coverage drivers will continuously require teams to seek additional or alternative runtimes. Still, those pursuits must always include an expectation of a unified workflow for the actions that will be taken from automation results across disparate runtimes. 

This requirement forces teams to evaluate and implement automation runtimes not just on the basis of their speeds and fees, but also on the basis of how well they can be implemented as part of a unified triage process for both bug remediation (eg. issue reproduction) and automation maintenance (eg. flaky tests) 

A Unified Workflow Requires a Test Results Abstraction Layer

Avoiding speed and coverage tradeoffs also requires a data abstraction layer for automation test run results. The bar for this abstraction layer must be kept high, thus ensuring that results from across disparate runtimes are consistently formatted and that signals are quickly actionable. 

Abstraction also ensures consistency of reporting across test automation runtimes, such as test coverage, pass/fail rates, and time-to-resolution on issues. Unified reporting is also critical to the continuous improvement of quality engineering practices that result in achieving and maintaining a competitive advantage in product quality. 

Embrace Runtime Flexibility Without Compromising Speed

While flexibility is a key advantage of using multiple runtimes, it shouldn’t come at the cost of speed. Prioritize bringing together runtimes and automation technologies for enhanced coverage in a way that fosters rapid delivery cycles.

Engineering leaders should ensure their teams are evaluating and implementing private, public, and virtual device cloud runtimes to ensure that testing does not force unnecessary tradeoffs between quality and speed. 

Learn How Testlio Leverages Multi-Source Automation Runtimes

The challenges of multi-sourcing automation runtimes are real, but they can be effectively managed with the right architecture and set of testing infrastructure implementation policies.

By unifying test automation results through a data abstraction layer and enforcing a unified workflow, product teams can simultaneously realize the benefits of comprehensive coverage and fast time-to-market for product features. 

The Results Service is a key component of the Testlio Platform, which delivers managed testing to enterprises as a highly integrated extension of the modern DevOps toolchain.  Watch it in action and dive deeper into unified test automation runtime strategies below.