Slowing Down to Go Fast: Applying Technology Impact Assessments to Test Automation Transformation Every enterprise seeks to gain competitive advantage through the embrace of new, innovative technologies to either transform external customer engagement or unlock internal operational efficiencies. Test automation represents a powerful technology innovation by which product teams can unlock significant software development operational efficiencies. But test automation transformation initiatives come with notable risks that should be considered. This is where technology impact assessments can offer valuable insights, helping to ensure sustainable adoption and ROI success. Technology Impact Assessments Technology impact assessments (TIA) are the process of evaluating how the introduction of a new technology can have implications for the broader organization. Depending on the technology and its prospective application, the scope of an impact assessment can vary widely, but the two foundational objectives are to: Uncover and draw attention to the set of dependencies (people, process, and technology) that will be required to realize the projected business benefits of the technology Identify and de-risk the potential negative implications (cost and risk) to the business that could occur as a result of the technology implementation Implementing a notable new technology without understanding the critical success dependencies and the potential negative implications can preemptively seal the fate of a transformation initiative. Leading to either a highly diminished return on investment or all-out failure on the transformation initiative. Applying Technology Impact Assessments to Test Automation Automated testing is a transformative technology widely available to modern engineering teams. The technology leverages a combination of compute runtimes, device farms, process automation, and AI to augment or altogether replace manual testing workloads. The transformation promise of this technology is to both speed up innovation cycles (get differentiated features to end users faster) and to expand the test coverage surface area, reducing the risk of brand tarnishing escaped issues. Test automation, like any transformative technology, is not immune to the dependencies and risks a technology impact assessment seeks to uncover. Yet, so many product teams embark on the test automation journey without first seeking to gain advanced insights into the dominos that will need to fall (dependency dominos) or could fall (risk dominos). What Exactly Does a Test Automation TIA Uncover? Details Please! The Inherent Dependencies A test automation TIA first seeks to uncover how the inherent characteristics of the application architecture will affect test automation. A senior quality engineer with access to the mobile or web application is assigned to analyze and document how the application’s code base creates dependencies (good or bad) on the test automation transformation initiative. Examples include assessing the strength of locators within the code base required to ensure automation reliability and maintainability. Weak locators signal a higher total cost of ownership or TCO on automation and might create a hard dependency for the development team ahead of automation transformation. The Readiness Another component of a test automation impact assessment focuses on the readiness of the existing test suite for automation. Specifically, evaluating the structure of test cases, typically authored for historical manual testing, to determine if test case refactoring will be required ahead of automation. In many cases, test cases historically written for manual test execution can undermine or even block a quality engineer’s ability to generate automation. For example, manual test cases are often written to guide a tester through a very detailed clickstream rather than outlining a clear set of pre-requisites and high-level-end-user interaction flow. If the test suite is overly prescribed for manual testing, it may not be suitable for automation and a major refactoring effort will be required ahead of automation transformation. Skills and Staffing Yet another dimension of a comprehensive TIA for automated testing is an assessment of the skills and staffing models needed to develop and maintain automation. The contemplated technology (frameworks and tools) will rely on sustained access to talent. Documenting the skillset and profile of the staff required to develop automation establishes a clear dependency on talent management requirements. While the emergence of low-code/no-code test automation tools has broadened the talent pool for automation, sourcing quality engineering talent remains necessary to ensure automation is done right leading to a lower TCO and future portability. A Small Pit Stop to Rev Up The Test Automation Engine Implementing any major technology-driven transformation without a TIA can result in unforeseen challenges, including higher-than-expected ownership costs, delayed time to value, and the inadvertent introduction of significant risks to the business. By requiring a test automation TIA, product leaders equip their teams with the foresight required to effectively manage and mitigate risk. It’s a small price to pay to avoid the prospective pitfalls that lay ahead on the test automation transformation journey.