I created a meme to express my thoughts about the test automation addiction I perceive in our industry.
I have the impression of many ātest automationā advocates that they behave like Christopher Columbus.
He was looking for a shortcut to India and thought until his death that he found it. EDIT: deleted pictures
What are your thoughts on the imagine in general? How can I improve it?
What do you think about the topic? How new is this to you?
Further explenation:
āTest Automationā is not a replacement for a good tester, only for brainless execution of manuals. Aka the not existing shortcut to India.
Also the things done in test case execution automation are just a fraction of what can be done by development for testing in general. Aka the Caribbean which Columbus found are just a fraction of the whole continent. It is possible to develop much more tools for testing than just automation.
probably far too complicated a meme to convey how the navigator was pretty much inexperienced, a bit like us all, but he was also given loads of dosh, and so I suspect a little bit of āmission bubbleā happened. He had, also, never been to India, another parallel with our problem space?
I am having problems with your meme, @sebastian_solidwork . Not much because of your content you try to transport, but much more because of the person Christopher Columbus.
If I would advocate for Test Automation I would not behave like Columbus! I am not an Invador or Conquerer and I do have geographic knowledgeā¦ Also here I am problems with your impression that many ātest automation advocates behave like Columbusā.
Sorry. As I do have coworkers and also here in the MoT club from India or maybe from the US (donāt know if we have first nation people within MoT club), I do find this topic not accurate or the meme would fit. In my opinion it could be hurtful and fill in with biasā¦
Please overthink your meme - in my eyes the creation of the meme went wrong.
There are other memes to use - but no, Columbus is the wrong person to use (in my eyes)ā¦
Alex has a valid point that I did not want to highlight. Today, we do have to think about whose history we bring up. It may have been allowed in the past I guess. Tearing down statues that remind people of evil in our past and all that, which is why I also did not grasp the meme, but then again Iām too far along for memes.
I decided to delete this image and create a new one with a different picture.
I have something in mind with unused tools. You have a full tool box available but insist to only use one always.
I can see what you have tried to do, however āTest Automationā is not the exploring part, it is repeating what you have already done using a ārobotā to save you time doing it again and again and again.
At no point will the robot go - O, I did not expect that I will investigate and write up my findings. It will purely state - Error, Wrong assertion / Expected result
Here I did not intend to say that the typical Test Automation is somehow explorative (which is part of my critique).
My main idea was to say that Columbus, and like him I see many test automation advocates, underestimated what he found. A new continent instead of just a new route to an existing one.
I see the potential problems of other making different implications by the person of Columbus.
You are free to have a different perspective on test automation. This mine.
Christoforo Columbus brings back bad memories for me, a school project which was overdue and like your actual premise here a huge underestimation and completely fraught task where I explored not only my ability to procrastinate, over design, under deliver and generally just hack it with no thought for the end goal. Yeah, Drake, Livingstone all history written badly, Shackleton perhaps less so, but even he failed to predict and take tight inventory enough to not discover a stow-away. I think the real parallel for me, is that once you start, there is often not time to say woah and start fresh with a change of attack.
