Software testing tools and load testing information

The state of automated testing in the IT industry is so laughably bad, it almost makes you want to cry. According to statistics provided by testing tool specialist Original Software, organisations that bought automated testing tools have only managed to automate, at most, the testing of 20 percent of their applications. The other 80 percent is done the old fashioned way: by hand.

In its new whitepaper, “The Great Software Testing Swindle,” Original Software makes a compelling case that all is not right in the $1 billion market for automated testing tools. In fact, the state of affairs is probably more akin to Shakespeare’s line about Denmark and foul odors.

In “Swindle,” the English software company summarises that, based on research and its own experience, it is very rare to see an organisation automate more than 20 percent of its testing chores. In fact, the percentage is usually much lower than that. As a result, not only have these organisations wasted time and money, but they’ve created another bottleneck in their application development cycles. This, from something that’s supposed to speed up the development cycle and lead to cleaner code.

So, how did we get to this fine state? The problem, Original says, stems from the use of software scripts–the most widespread technique to achieve test automation.

The scripts work well, as long as the application doesn’t change. But when the application has undergone some level of transformation (such as what might lead you to test it in the first place), those scripts are practically worthless and must be adapted to work with the application changes.

Vendors of automated testing tools must be aware of this Catch-22–that you can easily check your applications for potentially damaging changes, as long as you don’t change your application. Original is aware of the fundamental flaw, and has been talking about the failures of script-based tools for years.

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