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The Test automation Pyramid series Starts on episode 1 and runs to episode 8.
SIZE MATTERS:
At this point, I hope you got the ideas of why overdoing the upper floors of the pyramid will cause it to tumble. In the previous episode I mentioned you can get a test pyramid worksheet. This worksheet can be used to plan out how to build your project’s mighty pyramid of test.
To help make this more quantifiable, and give an example of how you can do this, let me talk through some numbers using the worksheet. So if you have it, get it out of your email. If you’ve been delaying to register your email, consider doing that now and a worksheet will show up in your email box within a minute or so. Otherwise, just give me a listen. Here are some typical numbers I see with well oiled Agile teams. Your team’s results may match, or be more or less. The important part is the ratio between the floors of the pyramid.
For example, a team works for a 2 week iteration and finishes 4 user stories. Those stories required 2 UI test, 8 subcutaneous tests, 20 micro tests and their code coverage > 90% for newly created code.
That team continuous like that for a year. They end up with 100ish UI tests, 300ish subcutaneous tests, 1,000-3,000 micro tests, and their product doesn’t require a bug tracking system since they rarely create regressions and can keep up with problems or new features required by the market
10 years later, this product has 100- 500UI tests (the variance is due to removal of old UI tests and widgets to keep interaction simple), 1,000s of subcutaneous tests, 10,000 micro tests which take 20 min to execute, and a code coverage still > 90%.
Products that achieve this can live forever as their design is kept up to date and can quickly respond to market changes.b If you’d like help in learning how to develop code using TDD, ATDD, or BDD, and interested in receiving free articles and videos, such as the test pyramid worksheet type http://AgileNoir.biz/AgileThoughts (or http://agilenoir.biz/敏捷理念) into your browser and fill out the contact form. When you do that, I’ll send you the test pyramid worksheet today. Later you’ll get more free videos and articles about test automation and offers of low cost email courses such as how to build the test automation to make your pyramid of test a reality.
