Automated tests need to be written in a logical, specific and structured manner so that eventually the testing process becomes easier, faster and more efficient. Automation testers can improve their productivity if they stringently follow a few key rules for writing effective automated tests. If these rules are applied in a strategic manner, then the results can prove to be worthwhile. In this article, you will get to know the ten rules for writing automated tests. Read more https://www.reddit.com/user/serenagray2451/comments/silbt2/10_rules_for_writing_automated_tests/

1. S C R U T I N I Z E T H E A B S T R A C T I O N S
If a test mostly consists of user interactions, such as set-text actions and clicks, then there is
something that is going wrong. If low-level frameworks such as selenium are being used, then the
business logic is separated from the low-level implementation that is recommended by Page Object
Design Pattern.
I S O L A T E D A N D I N D E P E N D E N T T E S T S N E E D T O B E
W R I T T E N :
A significant element of test authoring is creating independent, self-contained flows. Through
this, the tests can run in high parallelism, which is considered to be crucial for the test suites to
scale.
I M P R O V I N G S T A B I L I T Y
One of the main sources of flaky tests is to sleep with random duration. Almost all the apps are
considered to be asynchronous in nature. There are specific cases where a human is not able to
know whether the page is ready or not and when the next action should be performed.
O B S E R V E T H E S T A T E O F T H E T E S T S
The same set of steps is continuously repeated by automated tests, the same initial state is where they
should always start from. When the automated tests are being run, the most common maintenance
issues are making sure that the initial state is properly integrated.
A R R A N G E A C C O R D I N G L Y
There are thousands of scenarios that are included in most of the apps. The correctness and
functionality that are being tested are merely one step of the way for meeting user expectations and
shipping high-quality software.
O P T I M A L U S A G E O F S I M P L E S T E P S :
Real user scenarios are emulated by complex tests. The test should be composed from simple test
parts, instead of the entire scenario being recorded directly. As all the simple actions are tested
already in the simple tests, the complex tests should fail on integration issues only.
T H E V A L U E O F A D D I N G V A L I D A T I O N S
At the end of the test, validations are used to signal the test in a failed/passed state. At points of major
changes, validations can be added as a checkpoint to stop the test if a specific action has been failed.
Validations will run till it has reached a timeout.
AUTOMATION
TESTING
T E N R U L E S F O R W R I T I N G A U T O M A T E D T E S T S :
Automated tests need to be written in a
logical, specific and structured manner so that
eventually the testing process becomes easier,
faster and more efficient. Automation testers
can improve their productivity if they
stringently follow a few key rules for writing
effective automated tests.
T H E C O N D I T I O N S B E I N G O C C U R R E D S H O U L D B E R E D U C E D :
Conditions (if-statements) should be as few as possible for a test. If there are many conditions then
it becomes unpredictable, which means the exact state cannot be known.
D E V E L O P S T R U C T U R E D T E S T S
It is easier to create and maintain single purpose tests and they will also run faster compared to
complex and longer ones. If a particular feature that is being tested is broken or one of its
dependencies, then there are chances of failing.
R E D U C E , R E C Y C L E , R E U S E
The user scenarios can be broken down into single purpose, simple and almost atomic flows. A good
naming convention should be defined.