Testing in the DevOps era - Episode 3
Test with the right tools/platforms - A.K.A. Will Azure DevOps Test Plans survive?
This is the third article of a series that I intend to publish in which I will share my experience and opinions on testing in DevOps.
In this episode, I will share my thoughts on the importance of selecting the right tools for testing. Disclosure: Some pun is intended.
There is an old saying: "When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail". Proved to be the creatures of habit with numerous studies, we tend to go back to our comfort zones and make incredible efforts to convince ourselves and others that "it is a nail".
Especially in this era, we need to break the habit. Not a day goes by that some testing tool or platform does not get released, revived, revamped or discontinued. It is necessary to get a refresher on the testing tools - at least every time you start a new project. By refresher, I do not mean a Starbucks visit, although it may not be a bad idea! With Mocha, Chai, and Latte, it is more than likely that the next testing gadget will have a name from the Starbucks board :)
Depending on what and how you are testing, you will get a variety of new options to choose from every time you look again. Are you testing Angular apps? Selenium may not be waiting for your controls to load, and you may opt-in for something specialized in that. Are you testing mobile apps? Appium may be a great platform, but you may need some bells and whistles. Are you testing Dynamics 365 customizations? (Well, good luck with that! Connect with Amar Singh :) ) Are you doing manual or automated testing? Or maybe a mixture of both? What really is "automated" in your tests? Maybe you need to "sauce it up" a notch?
Well, being an SME in Azure DevOps, I have been using and advocating Test Plans for manual testing. I have several good reasons - top 3 below:
- Fluently integrated with the Boards, Repos, and Pipelines
- Test & Feedback browser extension
- Ability to capture the steps, notes, screenshots, videos, commentaries, and the test environment variables during bug reporting
But sadly, unhappily and unfortunately we have been watching several testing tools, platforms, and utilities recently being put to their death bed by Microsoft:
- Azure DevOps Load testing is deprecated
- Azure Web App Performance Test is deprecated
- Coded UI tests are deprecated
- Visual Studio Load Testing is going away altogether - VS 2019 is the last version with load tests and web tests
Microsoft seems to be backing away rapidly - the dead(/th)line of the aforementioned test services are just a few months ahead of us: March 2020. If you ask "What are they being replaced with?" the answer is "Collective Wisdom (!)". If you ask "Why?" I am sure product managers can name a million reasons to leave, but we all know one reason is enough to stay (if you really love it). Apparently, there is no love for the creatures of habit who relied on these tools and services... Oh well!
I cannot stop wondering if "Azure Test Plans" will survive... And if it does, for how long? Please share what you think...
If the plug gets pulled on the tools/platforms that you rely on, you should be ready to move on - wheater you like it or not. And I am. Believe me, it happens to the best of tools and platforms.
Do you know enough of alternative testing tools and platforms? Are you following the developments in the testing industry? Do you know about what would it take to pack and go to another tool/platform?
I certainly hope you do.
So, until the next episode, happy testing.
