How to implement test automation?

Following are the five steps required to implement test automation:

1. Analyze what needs to be automated: Just automating all the tests that are being performed manually isn’t considered to be a wise move. There is a misconception that those tests or test cases
   that are running all the time must be automated, which is not true. The reason for this is that there might be some tests that need not be considered at all for further testing. Those tests might be from old versions, which were not removed.

2. The current approach of testing should be assessed: Before initiating the automation testing work of any kind, it would be way better to map how the testing is being done currently. Data
   creation is the best way to start with because automated checks and tests would require data.

3. Develop a well-defined strategic plan of action for implementing test automation: Determine what ‘state’ the application is, in order to conduct testing and then within the specific ‘states’ automation activity can be carried out in a planned manner. For example, at one ‘state’ of the
   application there might be a need for exploratory/crowdsourced testing and at another ‘state’ regression testing would be required. So, in this scenario, different kinds of automation are required for these testing types.

4. The strategic application of programming languages: Based on the stack’s built-in, the development language can be used and this would be rather easy for the developers to work upon.
   In this manner, the level of automation coverage can be scaled up quickly. Tools like Chef and Puppet can be leveraged so that a level of Continuous Integration (CI) can be added up.

5. Scale up the automation activity: The teams assigned to work upon the automation activities should be able to deliver, keeping quality in perspective. A plan of action can be developed for pipeline deployments, unit tests and integration tests. The biggest misconception about conducting
   automation testing is about using the right tool, but, it is actually the right team and decisions being made by the team to automate only those sections, where automation testing will play a productive and rewarding role.