What is Automation??

When is Automation not actually Automation?

Automation can take many, many different forms from UI and Unit Test automation to automating Application Configuration or Environment Maintenance.

Whenever I hear the phrase - "we run our automation scripts manually on demand" - something inside me dies a little!

If your automation doesn't have the following qualities, it isn't actually automation but "almost-automation":

- Wholly checked into source control.

- Run at least nightly as part of by a Continuous Integration tool such as Jenkins.

- Results are fed back to stakeholders on failure.

- Any failures are investigated and logged in a work tracking system.

This not an exhaustive list, but certainly one that helps drive standards of automation in your teams.