15 Best Test Automation Practices to Follow in 2024

There was a time when software testing was limited to finding errors in software products. It was all about improving software quality. In today’s ever-changing technology landscape, the opportunities for test automation are endless. With developments over the last decade, you can drastically streamline procedures, save time, and increase productivity compared to previous years. Test automation enables speedy and accurate testing, allowing for the execution of several test scenarios in a short time.

According to MarketsAndMarkets, the global automation testing market is predicted to increase to USD 55.7 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 14.5 percent. However, you can’t just dive in and hope that the automation will give you the desired outcomes. If you want your product’s release to go well, you must have well-defined strategies. 

This blog offers 15 critical test automation best practices that will help you stay ahead of the competition by ensuring your automation plan is solid, flexible, and in step with current market developments. 

Begin With a Clear Automation Strategy

Effective planning and design are essential for test automation to be successful. Create an automation plan as a first step. This gives you a way to choose which tests to automate first and acts as a template for further tests. Prioritize your goals for automated testing and choose which kind of tests to automate. There are various types of testing, and every type of testing has a certain function in the testing procedure. For instance, you can test a particular user interface element of the program using functional or GUI testing.

Choose Appropriate Tools

Choose automation tools that work well with your app’s technology (web, mobile, API) and meet your needs for test management, reporting, and integration. Make sure the tools offer important features like easy scripting, strong reporting, and integration with CI/CD pipelines. Pick CI/CD tools that can handle any testing task to avoid problems during product development.

Automating Tests As Early As Possible

We refer to automating the testing process at the beginning of the software development process as early test automation. This procedure is crucial because it enables teams to identify and resolve problems at an early stage, preventing them from worsening as they progress in the development phase. 

Use test automation at an early stage of the development process to identify and address issues before they escalate. By discovering errors early in the development cycle, teams can reduce the cost and effort required to fix them later on.

Incorporate automated testing into the CI/CD (continuous integration and deployment) process. As a result, the system executes tests instantly upon code changes, providing engineers with rapid feedback and facilitating quick iterations and bug fixes.

Put Automation Tests First

Find Tests with High Value: You should automate tests like regression and smoke tests because they are widely used, highly influential, and stable. If a feature changes frequently or is experimental, avoid automating testing. 

Analyse ROI: Consider the cost and benefits of automating all of the test cases. Prioritise those that offer the highest return on investment when it comes to performance and identifying errors.

• Repetitive tests were carried out on many builds.
• Tests susceptible to human error.
• Data-intensive tests.
• Frequently used feature that generates high-risk scenarios.
• Tests that are hard to finish manually.
• Tests that are conducted on multiple hardware or software systems. 

Think about automating the following to increase the efficiency of your automated testing efforts:

Execute Several Tests in Parallel

Parallel testing is a critical practice in test automation which means executing automated tests in different environments simultaneously. Running automated tests in multiple configurations simultaneously reduces test duration, providing faster feedback and better coverage.

Parallel testing allows teams to speed up the testing procedure and deliver higher-quality software. To minimize test execution durations, execute tests simultaneously across multiple computers or online environments and run them in parallel whenever feasible.

Create Reusable and Modular Test Scripts

Write modular automated test scripts with smaller processes that you can use for various tests. This makes maintenance easier and cuts down on redundancy. You can use design patterns such as the Page Object Model to simplify the specifications of web pages or application elements, enabling test scripts easier to update. 

Begin with Simple Tests

There are two types of tests: lightweight and heavyweight, with varying resource and time requirements. Start with the lighter tests, which you can complete more quickly, and then tackle the heavier tests, which are often complex and time-consuming.

Perform Continuous Testing

Continuous testing is a basic software development technique that highlights the significance of continuing automated testing to preserve program stability and quality. By ensuring that the application remains in a deployable version through continuous automation testing, teams can reduce the possibility of discovering serious problems or errors. Continuous integration tools like Jenkins and GitLab CI automate test runs whenever you update the source code. This approach ensures that you execute tests reliably and consistently across a range of configurations and scenarios.

Prefer a Clear Testing Space

Use a testing space that is clean and unaffected by any residual impacts from earlier tests. Each new test often destroys this space because it is just transient. Using containers can help to reduce concerns about residual impacts on future tests. Moreover, by integrating components using common APIs, containers reduce the impact of various host environments.

Use a Shift-Left Method

Start automated tests for Shift Left Testing as early as possible in the development process, like unit testing, to find and address errors earlier.  Make sure work well with developers to incorporate test automation early on during the development process.

Make Use of Machine Learning and AI

Apply AI in automation testing to enhance test coverage through analysing past test data and predicting which test scenarios are most probable to identify errors. Use machine learning to identify patterns associated with unsuccessful tests and automatically change test scripts to minimise flakiness in automated testing.

Version Control

During app testing, you often encounter errors or issues that should have been fixed in earlier versions. Root cause analysis is obviously necessary in this case; however, it can take longer and leave features out of the production environment.  To address issues with earlier releases, it is necessary to reverse the changes implemented by the developers.  To accomplish this, you will require a version control system.

Secure and Isolate CI/CD Environment

Protecting a CI/CD setup from cyberattacks is crucial to avoid severe problems or shutdowns because it has the ability to access critical resources such as data, applications, and credentials. Separating the CI/CD testing environment and restricting access to specific assets (developers excluded) will be helpful to keep it safe.

Encourage Team Collaboration

Encourage QA engineers, developers, and operations teams on automation objectives and overcome obstacles as a team. To improve the general productivity and efficiency of testing, teams should exchange techniques and results.

Continuous Feedback

Continuous feedback is essential to ensure that automation tools function as intended and deliver the desired outcomes. Feedback helps improve test scripts and better understand errors, ensuring that the final code is production-ready. If you’re interested in learning automation testing, choose a tool like Selenium. We provide the best hands-on experience in Selenium Testing! Test scripts must frequently be revised in response to incorrect reports. Continuous feedback makes it easier to identify issues, modify code, and enhance test procedures.

Conclusion

It’s essential to follow these 15 test automation best practices for 2024 to improve testing processes and enhance software development. These practices include everything from early integration to version control to continuous testing. By focusing on teamwork, continuous testing, and data accuracy, teams can boost testing results, ensure reliability, and support continuous developments in their automation strategies.