Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Test Automation

For the past six years I have been surveying training and conference audiences with the question, “How many of your organizations own some type of automated capture/playback test tool?” Capture/playback tools capture or record the actions performed during a test session into software–like scripts that can be replayed against the same or updated version of software. The idea is to be able to repeat two or more tests identically and compare the results. A difference in test results may indicate the presence of a regression defect. Capture/playback tools own the largest market share of any test tool category and it is that category of tools that is the focus of this article.