Workshop: Successful test automation is not just about selecting and implementing tools and a technical infrastructure. People in teams make the changes that are required. People ensure the success or failure of the automation project. Understanding and managing expectations, attitudes toward change, teamwork, motivation, and communication are all vital if automation projects are to succeed. Isabel Evans identifies and discusses human factors around automation, teamwork, and human behavior to enable you to understand resistance to change, overcome mistrust of automation, and moderate inflated expectations of what automation can achieve. Learn why people react as they do to the prospect and actuality of automation projects. Join Isabel to explore new strategies for managing people and teams through their changing emotional responses

1. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Test Automation:
how people affect project success
(Star Canada half day)
Isabel Evans fbcs citp
ie@isabelevans.uk
www.isabelevans.uk

2. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Agenda and
objectives
• (Some) human factors
– Exercises
• Lessons from
Industrialisation
– Exercises
• People and teams
– Exercises
1. Understand that automation / industrialization involves human factors;
2. Remember that other disciplines and industries have lessons for us;
3. Be introduced to models to help us understand how to work with people.

3. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Have a go…
think
pair
share
• Introduce yourselves to
each other
• What are your objectives?
• think
pair
share
5 mins

4. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
(SOME) HUMAN FACTORS TO START
1. Implementing automation and industrialization involves human factors
of teamwork and beyond teamwork

5. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Kubler-Ross:
Attitudes to change
Denial
Anger
BargainingDepression
Acceptance
A change!
A New
change!Another
New change!
http://www.change-management-
coach.com/kubler-ross.html

6. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Remembering that humans are animals

7. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Approaching others
Managing mental & physical territory
Personal space
Home range
Territory
Flight distance Alert distance
Continually
panicky
Continually
alerted Can retreat
Pathological
behaviour
Able to roam
Hyperagressive CoexistAlerted
Page 123 Animal behaviour and its implications by Ellis

8. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Safety and danger
- home range and new territory -
Pathological
behaviour
Able to roam
Known territory
Fearful or fearless
exploration of new
territory?
Start support, coaching,
mentoring – team and individual
Pathological
behaviour
Able to roam
Known territory
Fearful or fearless
exploration of new
territory?
Start support, coaching, mentoring
– team and individual
Page 123 Animal behaviour and its implications by Ellis

9. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Temperament – when do people adopt?
https://ameyakulkarni.com/2014/06/ George Moore “Crossing the Chasm”

10. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
And when do ideas cross the chasm?
Fashionistas
Will Move
On to the
next thing
Now
it is
implemented
into the
main stream
So obvious we
don’t have to
talk about it…
George Moore “Crossing the Chasm”

11. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Two vocabularies because two audiences
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2017/02/the-two-vocabularies-because-there-are-
two-audiences.html
• New
• Innovative
• Pioneer
• First
• Now
• Limited
• Breakthrough
• Controversial
• Technology
• Brave
• Few
• Hot
• Untested
• Slice/Dominate/Win
• Private
• Dangerous
• Change
• Secret
• Tested
• Established
• Proven
• Industry-leading
• Secure
• Widespread
• Accepted
• Easy
• Discounted
• Everyone
• Experienced
• Certified
• Highest-rated
• Efficient
• Simple
• Guaranteed
• Accredited
• Public
George Moore “Crossing the Chasm”

12. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Have a go…
think
pair
share
• Influences on automation
– Why automate?
• Reasons to automate
• Reasons NOT to automate
– How to automate
• Enablers to automation
• Blockers to automation
15 mins

13. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Habits and triggers to behaviour
hunger
fullness
eat

14. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Habits and triggers (2)
fat
sad
eat

15. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Influence, Habits and Triggers
Cue Reward
Routine
What is the
new
routine?
The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do and how to change By Charles Duhigg
Trickster Makes This World By Lewis Hyde
Does it
have to be
that
reward?
Identify the routine
Experiment with rewards
Isolate the cue
Have a plan
What is
the new
cue?
Write
down
your plan
– new
habit!
Disrupt
your habit

16. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Changing habits – changing thinking
fat
sad
eat
New
routine: Go
for walk
Taste -
Short term
reward
New reward:
Fresh air
Improved mood
Reduced sadness

17. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Have a go…
think
pair
share
• Influences on automation
– One reason (for managers)
to automate… is to reduce
cost and time…
– What happens to cost and
time when you automate?
• Discuss what happens to cost
and time when you introduce
automation
• Draw a diagram to show what
happens to cost and time
when you introduce
automation15 mins

18. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
change
disruption
morale
trust in
change
new
automation
Desire for
automation
S
S
S
S
o
S
desire for
change
oS
change in direction
S
Automation – short term effect on
perceived cost and time

19. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
change
disruption
morale
trust in
change
new
automation
Desire for
automation
S
S
S
S
o
S
desire for
change
oS
change in direction
S
Cost / Time to
run Tests (this time)
Time to market
S
S
Automation – medium term effect on actual cost and time

20. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
change
disruption
morale
trust in
change
new
automation
Desire for
automation
S
S
S
S
o
S
desire for
change
oS
change in direction
S
Cost / Time to
run Tests (this time)
Time to market
S
S
Cost/time to run once bedded in
Bedding in
S
O O
Automation – long(er) term effect on cost and time

21. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
LESSONS FROM
INDUSTRIALISATION
2. Other disciplines and industries have lessons we should apply to the
industrialisation of our own industry

22. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Industrial revolution 1
Factories & Steam Power (~1760)
Wage cutting
Use of un-apprenticed
youths
“wide frames” which
produced
Cheap inferior quality
goods
Destroying the reputation
of their trade
http://www.luddites200.org.uk/theLuddites.html

23. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Industrial revolution 2
Steel & Mass Production (~1850)
God is our guide! from field, from wave,
From plough, from anvil, and from loom;
We come, our country's rights to save,
And speak a tyrant faction's doom:
We raise the watch-word liberty;
We will, we will, we will be free!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolpuddle_Martyrs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union

24. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Industrial revolution 3
Electronics & IT (~1970)
“in 20 years time,
there won’t be any
working class people
– they will have
just died out…”
Computer Science
student 1976

25. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Industrial revolution 4
“Industrie 4.0 with the idea of the
smart factory, made up of smart
communicating robots – and
where the product itself is ‘smart’
enough to know aspects of how it
should be built (for example, with
an RFID chip describing its size,
colour, etc.)”
Dr Stuart Reid STA
“It’s the end of the middle
classes” James Altucher in
“Choose Yourself”

26. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
And whose job is affected now?
http://crest.cs.ucl.ac.uk/cow/47/slides/
cow47_White.pdf (Borrowed from
David White, CREST, UCL)
“looks forward to a world in which our
successors regard human
programmers as a
‘…quaint
anachronism of
the past…’
in the same way that we now regard the
human computers of our nineteenth and
twentieth century forbearers…”
Langdon et al. Optimising Existing
Software with Genetic Programming.
TEVC 2012.
http://www.theallium.com/engineering/computer-programming-to-be-officially-renamed-
googling-stackoverflow/

27. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
People fear automation
• We value…
– Craftsmanship
– Cognitive skills
– Inventiveness & intelligence
– and other human traits
• We resent and fear
– Robotics
– Industrial steps
– When they affect our
speciality.

28. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Or embrace it or challenge it…

29. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Have a go…
think
pair
share
• What fears might people
have about automation?
– Choose 2 or 3 roles in an IT
project
– For each role discuss and list
• What affect will automation
actually have for them?
• What might they perceive as
the affect of automation?
10 mins

30. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
MORE PEOPLE - MODELS FOR
TEAMWORK
3. Models exist to help us understand how to work with rather than
against people in and affected by our projects

31. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
We work in teams… always?

32. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Leader styles and Team shapes
Tweeted by Sharon Robson. From Australian Leadership Foundation leadership.org.au

33. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Controlling Leader
Efficiency Engagement
Time = 2 Team = 0
Output = 5 Ownership = 0
7/10 0/10
L
High Authority
Low Autonomy
Controlling
From Australian Leadership Foundation leadership.org.au

34. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Guiding Leader
Efficiency Engagement
Time = 3 Team = 4
Output = 3 Ownership = 4
6/10 8/10
Medium Authority
Medium Autonomy
Guiding
L
From Australian Leadership Foundation leadership.org.au

35. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Participating Leader
Efficiency Engagement
Time = 3 Team = 5
Output = 2 Ownership = 5
5/10 10/10
Low Authority
High Autonomy
Participating
L
From Australian Leadership Foundation leadership.org.au

36. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Management Styles:
effect on output and time spent compared with
empowerment (teamwork and ownership)
teamwork ownership output time
From Australian Leadership Foundation leadership.org.au

37. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Leadership Quadrants
Feelers
Feelers
Muddlers
Thinkers
Engagers
Relational
Rational
http://leadership.org.au/resources/leadership-models-tools/

38. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Effective followership
Self
management
Commitment
Competence Courage
Effective
followership
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Followership on the work of Kelley

39. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Follower Types
Pragmatics
The Alienated
Yes-People
level of critical thinkingpassive
active
Star Followers
Sheep
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Followership on the work of Kelley

40. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Follower Types
The Alienated
level of critical thinking
passive
active
The Star Followers
The Sheep: passive, require
external motivation, lack
commitment and require
constant supervision
The Yes-People: committed to the
leader and the goal
/task/leader/team. Conformist, do
not question decisions or actions,
defend their leader
The Pragmatics: not trail-blazers; will not stand
behind controversial or unique ideas; vote with
majority; stay in the background
The Alienated: negative, attempt
to stall or bring the group down,
constantly questioning, view
themselves as the rightful leader,
critical of the leader and fellow
group members
The Star Followers: positive,
active, and independent
thinkers, will not blindly accept
the decisions or actions ; Can
succeed without the presence of
a leader.

41. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Revisit Controlling Leader:
what type of followers?
L
High Authority
Low Autonomy
High Work Output
Low Time Input
No Engagement
Meaningful work?
Which followers thrive?

42. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Revisit Guiding Leader:
what type of followers?
Medium Authority
Medium Autonomy
L
Decreased Work Output
Increased Time Input
Increased Engagement
Meaningful work?
Which followers thrive?

43. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Revisit Collaborating Leader:
what type of followers?
Low Authority
High Autonomy
L
Lower Work Output
Higher Time Input
Better Engagement
Meaningful work?
Which followers thrive?

44. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
http://bit.ly/2bn4OxL
Changing the style through coaching

45. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Mentoring and Coaching
Driven by
mentee
listen
Mentor
1 to 1
Driven by
coach
tell
Coach
groups

46. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Changing styles through coaching
Direction
Guidance
Supporting
Listening
Engaging

47. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Have a go…
think
pair
share
• What leadership and
followership styles are in
your organisation?
• What styles do you prefer
or use?
5 mins

48. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Wish Mania: From heroes to demons…
Heightened level of adoration
Euphoric joy, awe and hope
Positive expectations
That are disproportional to what can be achieved
Volatile and easily replaced by
dashed hopes and hostility
Leading to…
Heightened level of concern
Viewed as a threat
Consensus that it is a serious threat
Requiring action
‘a rapid, spontaneous spread of
false, exaggerated, or unsubstantiated beliefs
within a diffuse collective such as a community, region or country’

49. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Safety bias: can we trust automation?
Always…?
• We still need people
– operate the automation
– over-ride it if it
malfunctions
• We need a team
– Wallace needs Gromit,
and
– Gromit needs Wallace

50. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Do you trust your automation?
Software tester finding decision making not
supported by IT toolset:
“The test tool marked all the tests as passed
except 1, but in fact none of the tests marked
“passed” had actually run”
Quote from Fewster and Graham “Experiences
of Test Automation”

51. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Information design
• People-centred, not tech-centred
• Apply Nielsen’s Heuristics to the automation
interfaces
– https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-
heuristics/
• Apply information design models from Tufte
to the reporting from the automation
– https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

52. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Have a go…
think
pair
share
• Is there hero-worship or
demonization in your
workplace?
• Any safety bias?
• When you built the
automation team did you
go through steps to build
it?
• Did you include automation
users?
– People centred approaches?
– Quality viewpoints?
10 mins

53. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Action plan
• What will you do as a result
of this session?
– This week?
– This month?
– This year?
Or do nothing!

54. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Three key points
• 1. Implementing automation and
industrialization involves human factors of
teamwork and beyond teamwork;
• 2. Other disciplines and industries have
lessons we should apply to the
industrialisation of our own industry;
• 3. Models exist to help us understand how to
work with rather than against people in and
affected by our projects.

55. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
Test Automation:
how people affect project success
thank you!
Isabel Evans fbcs citp
ie@isabelevans.uk
www.isabelevans.uk

56. Be happy - do good - leave the world a better place than you found it
Isabel
Evans
References
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solitary_animals
• http://www.lucidity.org.uk/animal/
• BBC wildlife documentaries e.g. Frozen Planet
• Jane Goodall: The Chimpanzees of Gombe
• Hegel: http://bit.ly/2aHszAH
• Catherine Hezser: http://bit.ly/2a83sTo
• Berne: Games people play
• Abe Wagner: The transactional manager
• Warren Bennis: On Becoming a Leader http://bit.ly/K2hcAH quoted in http://www.buzzle.com/articles/autocratic-leadership-style.html
• http://bit.ly/2bn4OxL
• http://bit.ly/1JnwcUd
• Leadership Styles diagram from Australian Leadership Foundation tweeted by Sharon Robson
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Followership
• Ellis: Animal behaviour and its implications
• Raes & Evans Workshop: Leave me alone, I’m hiding from my team
• Thomas: Workshop: Becoming a Programme Test Manager (www.badgerscroft.com)
• Evans: Achieving Software Quality Through Teamwork
• http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-010-0338-5: Decision making at a crossroad: why to go straight ahead, retrace a path,
or turn sideways? Miller, M. & Eilam, D. Anim Cogn (2011) 14: 11. doi:10.1007/s10071-010-0338-5
• Charles Duhigg: The Power of Habit Why we do what we do and how to change
• Lewis Hyde: Trickster makes this world
• Harty: Bridging the Gap Between Testers and Developers EuroSTAR 2004
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/06/25/ten-policies-youll-find-in-every-toxic-workplace/#a2dce16618e6
• Australian Leadership Foundation Leadership Styles matrix, tweeted by Sharon Robson
• Raes & Evans “Leave me alone! I’m hiding from my team!”