Scared, frustrated and quietly proud: Testers’ lived experience of tools and automation

Software testing is vital, expensive, time-consuming yet a necessary part of software development. Testers perform repeated actions during testing, where automation and tools could reduce costs, timescale and human error. However, challenges to tools adoption have been identified in academic research and industry, which are blockers to success with automation. In attempting to find whether testers were experiencing tool usability shortcomings, we followed an exploratory research path, collecting stories from over 100 test practitioners. We discovered a richer, more complex story than we expected. We realised that usability – while necessary – is not sufficient to enable success, and that other human factors challenge successful automation projects. In answering privately to questions about their experiences of tools and automation, testers expressed themselves in language that was more emotional and linked to their lived experience (LX) than we expected. We uncovered frustrations and fear, as well as pride. In this paper we present our findings so far about TX: The testers’ lived experience of tools and automation, and we suggest steps for future research.