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What Makes a Good CEO?

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 11:45 AM PST

  • In a fast-paced business landscape, unabashed, no-holds-barred creativity seems to be a requirement for CEOs who want to innovate and succeed.

  • As a leadership quality, creativity can be incredibly useful, but it isn't always the defining factor a CEO or business leader needs to flourish.

  • In fact, gauging what employees excel at and adapting accordingly — whether that's playing a more creative, analytical, or executionary role — is one of the best things a CEO can do for his or her company.

Boundless, unfettered creativity really seems to be the hallmark of an effective CEO, and many household-name business leaders are lauded for their creative, free-spirited flair.

This makes a lot of sense: When the vast majority of your day involves being the face of a company, it's important to show off your inventiveness and open-mindedness. (And hey — is it even possible to launch a company today without some sort of disruption?)

Innovation is the name of the game, and an inability to take a creative, visionary stance makes leaders seem out of touch. In the worst cases, it could even contribute to a company's failure.

Moving beyond creativity in a CEO

The importance of creativity in leadership can't be understated, and having a creative bent is certainly important for business leaders across the board. However, it isn't always the end-all, be-all trait of effective CEOs.

Having a CEO who can add a bit of innovative flourish is surely useful to a team of executives helping to steer the ship — a group of people truly able to execute on the ideas the CEO brings up in his or her day-to-day work.

In reality, though, adjusting quickly to the ever-changing nature of a business might be an even better capability for CEOs. Case in point: What if our imaginative CEO is surrounded by similarly creative executives who have trouble carrying ideas forward? The team could drive straight into the ground, and it goes without saying that the CEO's creativity would be much less valuable this time around. Even worse, CEOs who feel obligated to fill an idea-generator role (rather than focusing on what his or her team needs) might actually limit workers who are more driven to demonstrate their creative skill sets. The CEO feels forced to keep churning out ideas, and the natural creatives underneath this leader have no choice but to keep trudging along.

This happens more than we think: In its 2019 Global CEO Outlook, KPMG International notes that the vast majority of CEOs want employees to innovate and flex their creative muscles without fearing negative consequences. Unfortunately, just 56% of them say their firm's culture values "fail-fast" innovation.

There's intent, but the action isn't always there.

The power of CEO intuition

The CEOs of today should be able to shift their behavior and adapt intuitively to the skills of those around them — even if that means going against their own nature every once in a while.

Of course, making these changes can be tricky for the leader who doesn't know she should make a change. Luckily, those occupying the C-suite probably have wide-ranging career experience already.

Let's put this in perspective: Say you're at the beginning of your career. You were likely hired into your starting role because you had a specific array of skills — expertise that predicted your success in that role, specifically. As you move forward and start managing people, planning out your own tasks, being proactive, and carrying out regular duties likely isn't enough. You not only have to juggle a heftier task list, but also to coach people, demonstrate empathy, and hone your emotional intelligence.

As you move into a CEO role, then, you'll need even more people-management skills that require you to ebb and flow with your business.

Giving employees a chance for success

Armed with this insight, how can CEOs gauge the level of creativity they should contribute within their organizations? After all, predicting what firms need from leaders can be tricky — even for the folks sitting atop a corporate hierarchy.

While some members of your team will offer pie-in-the-sky ideas naturally, others might find their value in moving projects forward. Figuring out these preferences isn't as tricky as it seems: Data-oriented CEOs might start by encouraging employees to take personality or behavior and motivation tests and share their results. Whole Brain and Gallup's CliftonStrengths are both stellar options, but most other professional identity tests should work just as well in helping CEOs understand employee motivators, skills, and preferred work styles.

Another great way to glean insight on how employees feel about a teammate's personal growth and what that person could contribute to the company is through 360 reviews. CEOs might also opt for feedback on specific leadership styles rather than cold, hard performance metrics. Those responses tend to be more accurate and emotionally driven.

Despite all of these options, there's no secret recipe that reveals exactly what a CEO needs to be for his company. Most times, the best way to discern what employees really need is to make an effort to understand them.

In the meantime, CEOs can take a few small steps within their firms to ensure employees have the space to grow their personal skills. Business leaders looking to foster creativity in the workplace (as well as other hidden talents) can start here:

1. Give others the opportunity to speak up

Sometimes, the best way to help others grow to their fullest potential is by letting them take center stage. CEOs looking to allow employees to have more say in the day-to-day, therefore, might make a habit of speaking last. Everyone should have their say without feeling swayed by leadership's opinions.

Asking questions is another easy but incredibly effective way to get this insight. Asking simple questions — even "What do you think?" — is a great way to encourage others to speak up.

2. Test out new opportunities

As mentioned earlier, testing hypotheses is a great opportunity to gain valuable insight — especially when it comes to giving others the ability to show off their skills.

Let's say you've constantly given your chief financial officer a "grab-the-numbers" assignment. Next time around, you might ask him to rethink a specific part of the financial process — perhaps forecasting around a new structure your company wants to try. Was he able to complete this task? Did he request anyone else's help to carry it out? When it's all said and done, did the CFO enjoy the new challenge and feel good about his solution?

All of this can help determine whether he might be a good fit for other similarly minded projects (and how he views his own capabilities).

3. Recognize the pressure you're under and act accordingly

It goes without saying that CEOs face an incredible amount of pressure not just from company employees, but also from customers or clients and other stakeholders. The expectation is to get the right things done in the right way.

In the past, this pressure probably revolved around keeping the company sustainable and afloat. Now, firms have much more responsibility all around: Leaders aren't only tasked with meeting the numbers. They also have to employ happy people, make the world a brighter place, and keep ethics top of mind.

This leadership role involves adjusting to a constantly shifting target on all fronts, and doing so can be incredibly stressful. According to data from Harvard Business School, the average CEO is nothing short of a workaholic, logging about 10 hours every weekday and devoting a significant amount of weekend and vacation time to work.

So what does all of this mean for the leader who wants to become a better CEO and encourage employees to express newfound skills? Here, the most important thing to remember is to lean on others. You don't have to achieve every company goal single-handedly, but you should be sure that the people around you can follow the right path and chase the right goals. No one person is ultimately accountable.

So even though employee feedback gives you an idea of how you're performing, ask yourself this: Are you really happy with the role you're playing? By empowering your employees to take initiative and develop the skills they're excited about — and molding your leadership to what your employees need — you're well on your way to success.

How to Make Business Meetings More Engaging

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:55 AM PST

"Oh, look at my calendar. I have back to back meetings all day long," often means the same thing as "this day is going to be a waste and I won't get a damn thing done." Human beings are social creatures and we generate a lot of our creativity and productivity through interaction with others. Hence "the meeting." The unfortunate, other side of that coin is that in today's business world, meetings can sometimes be unproductive wastes of time if not planned and managed properly.

Often times, people grandstand. They talk for the attention and exposure that they believe they are getting instead of listening and processing the information they are receiving. Essentially, everyone talks to no conclusion. Or even worse, no one speaks up for fear of retribution – the meeting becomes another means of procrastination! Large companies with big projects have a lot of moving parts that require contribution from many entities, encompassing a diverse set of people and skills. Therefore, productive meetings are critical to leverage talent, build consensus, make decisions and ultimately, complete the project.

Here are a few tools and tips you can use to make your meetings more productive and actionable for your team:

An efficient business meeting format

Whether you meet in person or online, whether you are an executive or a junior coordinator, you can organize your meeting to keep it focused so you can meet your goals.

  • Stick to an Agenda: One of the most effective and easy ways to keep a meeting focused is with an agenda and a strong meeting leader who will force everyone to stick with it. It sounds elementary, but how many meetings have you attended that were supposed to be about one thing but ended up going in an entirely different direction? And the takeaway from that meeting was most likely… nothing. You didn't make any decisions based on the original topic, it just wandered away.

    Having set line items and discussion points printed on paper or projected on the screen in front of every participant forces them to focus their attention on the priorities. And when the conversation goes off tangent, the agenda is there to refocus everyone's attention and bring the discussion back to the original topic The agenda is a dispassionate, seemingly innocuous document that everyone adheres to.  
  • Keep it Short: A recent study noted that our attention span has fallen to a mere 9 seconds in 2019, from 12 seconds in 2000. We live in a world where everyone is multitasking. Time is precious and we don't have much of it. Therefore, keep meetings short and to the point – if possible, less than an hour. Take it further and allocate minutes to each line item on the agenda. That way, you can cover all of your points. And your meeting attendees know that they have a limited window to get or give the information they need to produce and move the project along.
  • Invitations: Too many cooks spoil the cake, too many attendees undermine a meeting. Ever been in a meeting where there are so many people, nothing gets done? One person suggests something or makes an observation and everyone stays silent. Speaking in front of a large group is intimidating, and when that group consists of your colleagues and superiors who can impact your career, well that's even worse.

    The more people in the room, the more reserved people will be with their thoughts and ideas. That means less participation, which is completely counter to the purpose of having a meeting in the first place. You should only include people who need to be in the meetings, either to provide information, provide approval, and help with the execution of the plan. If they are not providing some form of information, approval or input then they should not attend. You are wasting their time. (One exception is for interns and other junior employees who can learn from listening in.)
  • Encourage participation: Once you've limited the meeting to only colleagues who have something to contribute, make sure you get their input. That's why they are there in the first place. Put names next to action items on the agenda, signaling who the appropriate person is tasked with the information needed on that item. This will open the floor for that person to speak up and engage with the rest of the group.  

  • Next Steps: Close the meeting with action items, due dates and responsibilities. Everyone knows what they are supposed to do next and when they are supposed to complete it. It makes everyone accountable to each other.

Choosing the right meeting place

Remote meetings are quickly rising in popularity inside offices around the country. Even people in the same building would rather login to a GoogleMeet than take the elevator to the 10th floor conference room. Boomers and GenX'ers may or may not lament this evolution but Millennials seem to love it, almost as much as they love açai bowls and dating apps (which can also be a great way to meet someone, but that's another story). So let's discuss our meeting place options.

Conference room

Even with the adoption of video calls and screen-sharing, the best way to relate and share information still lies in in-person meetings. You can see how colleagues react to topics and ideas. You can read body language. You can get to know each other better and bond. It sounds hokey but we are still social creatures who naturally crave human contact. To this day, I still push to meet my clients and colleagues face to face.

To keep those conference meetings effective and short, limit food and drinks. Some meeting planners even remove chairs and make everyone stand. If they get too comfortable and settled in, they will soon be dreaming of drinking mojitos in Cancun and the meeting will never end. Cushy seats, sandwiches and sodas are a distraction that will increase the length of the meeting.

In a conference room, get to the point, and get out.

Meeting apps

Meeting apps are by far the most efficient and convenient way to meet (and there's no swiping involved). Login right from your laptop or even your phone. Anyone can share their screen, turn on their video camera and you have an in-person meeting with lots of supporting and reference material. Since most people log in from their desktop, they have access to the majority of files that they can then share as needed. Once dominated by WebEx, the meeting app market has become more competitive as technology has evolved. You can choose from Zoom, Skype, GoogleMeet and a host of others. They all essentially do the same thing.

Presentation technology

With over 500 million users and an estimated 95% of the market, PowerPoint still dominates the presentation software market. It's like Facebook, everyone loves to hate it but they still always come back to scroll, troll and post what's on their mind. Here are a few tips and tricks to make the most out of your next PowerPoint presentation:

  • Less is more: The fewer bullets, charts and pictures, i.e.: the cleaner your slides are, the more impact they will have on your audience. Stick to three bullets, one prominent image or a clean, simple chart. The slides are there to support the speaker, not the other way around. If you want your audience to "read" instead of "listen" to you, then send out the whitepaper, and skip the meeting altogether.

  • Go interactive: Just because PowerPoint is linear doesn't mean your presentation has to be. Skip around, use animations and hot links to zoom in and out of ideas. Present slides during or after someone asks a question. The more everyone interacts, the more likely they are to solve the problem and come to a resolution. Let the conversation follow the presentation. Don't limit yourself to a rigid slide show.

  • Slide library: Store all of your files and slides into a Cloud-based slide library that is searchable, visual and on-demand. The slide library will make it fast and easy for speakers to prepare their decks before the meeting and they can access the slide library during their meeting. They are also able to present any file, be it a PowerPoint slide, a video, even a PDF-on demand, just in case something is overlooked in their preparation. Using a slide library not only promotes interactive discussion, but it helps keep the project moving forward. With a slide library at hand, you can deal with issues and questions on the spot instead of having to follow-up later.

For your next meeting, keep it short with a tight agenda, make it exclusive to only those who have something to contribute, and use technology and PowerPoint to further the conversation and encourage discussion. Rigidity is out, flexibility is in. Let the conversation follow the presentation

10 Signs That It’s Time To Pivot Your Business

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:40 AM PST

Not all businesses can succeed, but that doesn't mean initial failures are permanently dooming your company to the loser's corner. Indeed, many businesses which initially fail later succeed because of a well-executed pivot which reorganized their priorities and put the company back on the track to success. Knowing when it's time to pivot, however, is often easier said than done, and many business owners refuse to make changes because they're unsure of when to act.

Don't let your company wallow in the wind because you failed to recognize a sign that you needed to pivot. Here's a breakdown of 10 signs that it's time to pivot your business, and how to go about it successfully. 

  1. You've lost all passion

For a business owner, there's no greater sign that it's time to pivot than realizing that you've lost all passion when it comes to working within a certain industry or sector of the market. Small businesses require dedicated, capable entrepreneurs who are willing to take charge of the company in order to steer it towards success. If you're lacking in motivation for such a task, it's unlikely that your company will endure for long in a competitive marketplace.

That's why it's imperative to pivot to a new commercial area or strategic approach when you find yourself losing passion for your business. A failure to pay attention to your own growing dismay for a certain business strategy will lead you to keep relying on that strategy until it ultimately dooms you to commercial failure.

  1. Your employees don't engage with their work

After the business owner comes the business' rank and file workers, so don't think your own motivations are the only ones you need to be paying attention to. When you find that your employees are checking out of their work from a mental standpoint and find themselves wholly unengaged with what they're doing, it could be a great sign that your business needs to pivot. 

Helping unengaged employees find the spark again begins with knowing what to look for when it comes to assessing the morale and productivity of your workforce. From there, you're only a few short steps away from pivoting into a new direction and reinvigorating your workforce. 

  1. You're looking at other markets

Sometimes, it's not your business model or approach to a certain commercial sector that's wrong. Instead, it's that you're simply operating in an area that's unsuitable for long-term business success. If you find yourself enviously scouting out potential new markets, that's a fantastic sign that you and your business need to make a pivot and consider a location change.

Moving to a new business location is never easy and seldom cheap, but when it's done properly it can introduce you to a slew of new customers eager to sample your exciting wares or services which, from their perspective, are new in town and thus full of potential. If you're in New York and longingly gaze at Florida businesses, perhaps you need to make a major pivot and move into a new, more appropriate and profitable marketplace.

  1. You're unsatisfied with growth rates

One common cause for company-wide pivots is that executives are unhappy with the lackluster rate of growth that the company has been experiencing lately. If you're a business owner who's deeply concerned about the rate of expansion your company is undergoing, consider it a tell-tale sign that you've probably waited a little too long to pivot. 

Luckily, this isn't the end of the world; by pivoting to a new strategy, you can steer your business towards more profitable pursuits and make up for the gnawing uncertainty that's surrounding your current operations. 

  1. Your clients are having doubts

If you're a business owner who relies on the advice of clients it's of the utmost importance that you take their feedback into consideration concerning a potential company pivot. Those clients of yours who are frustrated with the services you've been providing them are trying to tell you something, and it would be foolish to ignore their advice. When considering a company-wide pivot, attend to your clients and consider if their needs are really being met.

  1. You struggle with tech

Those companies which struggle with new technology aren't long for this competitive marketplace. Nevertheless, many entrepreneurs who lead businesses struggling to adapt to the latest innovations refuse to make a pivot. This is a sorry mistake which will come back to haunt you sooner rather than later. 

If you're incapable of modernizing your technology, consider a major pivot that includes bringing on new employees or acquiring another company. That way, you'll be getting ahold of that tech expertise which has thus far been holding you back through its absence. 

  1. Your brand isn't attractive

The attractiveness of your brand determines the overall success of your company, so when your brand isn't attractive you know for sure that it's time to pivot. Understanding how brands pivot is crucial for those business owners who don't want to be left in the dust by competitors who have their fingers on the pulse of the market. Only when your brand has a rejuvenated image that's popular with consumers can you hope to aspire to new levels of commercial success.

  1. Your new workers keep leaving

If you've tried to pivot by bringing on new employees but find that they keep leaving the ranks of the company almost as soon as they join, it's a sign that you've been relying on an insufficient strategy. When workers leave in droves, your company is in desperate need of a pivot which will ensure your workforce doesn't continue to disintegrate at the very moment you need it the most. 

  1. You're too focused on the product

Oftentimes, entrepreneurs pay far too much attention to the products they're putting out onto the market and not enough time focusing on customers and their specific needs. This results in companies churning out products that few people are buying, which in turn further imperils their already-precarious economic position.

Sometimes, you need to step back as the business owner and ask yourself if it's time to pivot in order to pay more attention to everyday consumers and their specific needs and desires. Business owners who refuse to step away from their products and services for even a minute may think they're doing the company well, but if it means ignoring customers then you need to make a pivot towards what's important.

  1. A "eureka" moment occurs

Finally, business owners should always be prepared to pivot in order to capitalize on a "eureka" moment, or an instance where they suddenly conceive of a new and better way of doing business than ever before. When you feel as if your instincts are compelling you to try a radical new approach, consider that they may be right. Business owners who learn to stop listening to their guts are those who are likely to stumble into a serious problem sooner rather than later.

When you think you've come across a successful pivot idea that's nevertheless shot down by others for being too radical, don't give up right away. In time, you may find that pivoting in order to pursue your new idea is what made your business into a commercial powerhouse.

Quality Assurance Trends to Watch in 2020

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:48 AM PST

With the quality assurance trends becoming almost the starting point for successful software testing planning, it is important to ask yourself about the background of the situation.

The World Quality Report (WQR) 2019–2020 revealed that there is still much to take into account this year. Artificial intelligence and machine learning, test data environments, cost containment and efficiency, and more are expected to be the trends that will shape the software testing landscape in 2020.

Today, let's focus on Agile and DevOps as well as test automation – two trends that have stayed relevant through the years.

The journey from customer satisfaction to business growth

This year's report shows that the main goal of QA and software testing is to contribute to business growth and outcomes. Last year, the WQR respondents showed more interest in achieving the satisfaction of the end consumer.

We believe that companies not only pay attention to meeting end-user needs directly – they do it indirectly through achieving business growth.

If the cost of doing business is experiencing a decrease due to the introduction of high-quality software, the price of a service or product for the end user is reducing as well. That means that they are more likely to opt for your offerings rather than your competitor's.

At the same time, reaching user satisfaction is still a focal area and can be seen to supplement the number one priority goal – contributing to business outcomes – and fully attain it.

Let's take an online shopping experience as an example and explore the aspects that may define its success in the market.

  1. The satisfaction and the level of users' loyalty directly depend on how easy and fast they can find the right product on the website and buy it.
  2. For business growth, the store has to function flawlessly. If the website is down, it does not generate profits.
  3. The new or outstanding functionality that differentiates your website from millions of others is important too. Let's say you have a feature for "automatic selection of the cheapest delivery option". This small enhancement can make your buyers happier – they'll get what they need cheaper and faster.  

In a nutshell, these three main aspects join forces to deliver top-notch software and make both the business owner and the end customer happy.

The premise of goals priorities changes

Customer-facing products are the new normal for the day. For instance, mobile technologies have taken a big step forward over the past few years, and intelligent connectivity has played not an insignificant role. Developing such software has become easier, and the focus has shifted to internal systems, which should support more complex business logic.

In the above-mentioned example, from the user's point of view, an online store should be an easy-to-understand application with intuitive functional filling. But the selection of the optimal delivery solution requires a more complex algorithm, which should consider different transporters, delivery methods, and more. So now, the focus is shifting to solving comprehensive business issues.

Interestingly, artificial intelligence and machine learning are technologies that end users do not even always recognize while using a software product. However, they strongly affect the cost of doing business in general, allowing you to deliver a more competitive solution to the demanding market.

Is there a formula for software success?

Any leader should pay attention to the wise combination of the top three core QA goals defined in the WQR:

  • Provide business growth and outcomes
  • Prevent software defects before go-live
  • Assure end customer satisfaction.

Apart from these business goals, the following tech objectives are also quite important:

  • Protecting corporate branding
  • Enhancing software quality
  • Shifting testing left.

The representatives interviewed by WQR also highlighted the rising quality and security awareness among other disciplines as an objective. It may not seriously affect the business directly. However, being professional in providing users with a high-quality solution rather than teaching them the basics of some aspects can be a more reliable approach.

Aligning QA into Agile and DevOps

With 18 years of Agile viability, it is still not a one-size-fits-all practice. Unfortunately, at some point, Agile turned into a buzzword when companies were not delving deep into the process but were happy to say, "We are agile!"

As a result, many businesses implemented Agile methods and were surprised that the results were not dazzling. Why is that?

  • Sometimes low-skilled Agile consultants overpromise and under deliver some aspects, leaving many unresolved issues unattended.
  • Only a few practices were implemented, and the wow effect was never realized.
  • And let's be honest, in some cases, this model simply does not fit the company at the particular development stage it was adopted.

The list of such reasons is endless. It depends on the way the issues are approached and whether the project management process is built correctly. The first and the most important rule when using any methodology is to understand what you are trying to achieve, which is basically defining the main pain points. Only then one can select the necessary tools and means – not the other way around.

Challenges in Agile and DevOps implementation

This year, the WQR respondents highlighted the primary challenges in adopting Agile and DevOps – operational and business priorities. This is the most important question in introducing new processes into a company.

It often happens that operational activities and tight deadlines prevent the companies from stopping and reflecting on their strategic development. This is something that should be done every now and then and ask themselves, "What could be a better decision in this case in the long term?"

Is it worth taking some time to review and re-engineer the process and automatically promote the build to production in 5 minutes?

OR would it be better to rush it manually and spend 10 hours on the task later? The decision for the long-run process seems to be the more feasible process, right?

Under tight deadlines, companies feel it's acceptable to solve the problem TODAY using traditional means instead of building a long-term solution that can be cheaper, faster, simpler and, most importantly, that can exclude the human factor in the future.

Below, we see the correlation between the operational and business priorities challenge with another one – talent/skill set.

  • In-house team

If there is a skilled leader who has already worked with DevOps or Agile approaches, the process of implementation is faster and more easily accepted by all participants involved, both from the IT and business departments.

  • External team

Another common option is hiring external experts to tune the process according to the "set" rules (that might not work out in the specific case, as they do not usually dig into the company's culture). In such cases, after six months or a year, teams strongly reject new approaches and want to get rid of them.

To avoid such mistakes, remember that the team should become a full-fledged participant in implementing new methodologies, adapting them to company's standards, new participants should be helped in joining the process, and get used to the whole flow.

Apart from technology stack, executive support, and culture, education can also prove to be a challenge. Both DevOps and Agile practices continue to evolve: new approaches and tools are being developed, some practices are abandoned, and so on. Therefore, it is extremely important to constantly deepen and expand knowledge, discover the success stories of Agile and DevOps adoption in the era of continuous innovation, and so on to enhance expertise.

New and old challenges in applying testing to Agile developments

Compared to the WQR 2018–2019, this year we see the emergence of two new problems:

  • Estimation of test efforts in Agile

  • Lack of QA guidelines and reusable QA solutions for the teams.

Let's try to figure out why this happened.

The estimation of test efforts seems to be a fairly common problem. And it is directly related to the assessment of the team's velocity and capacity. Scrum says it's normal: you need several stable sprints to run with a team before you can understand their true velocity.

At the same time, some external factors may periodically affect these indicators.

  1. When a team is formed and works perfectly bringing great results to the place, the evaluation of the testing efforts is greatly simplified. In some cases, the root of the problem might be that a QA team is not part of a scrum team, which means they cannot fully participate in sprint planning or interchange each other.
  2. When companies talk about quality, they often mean a team of testers, though, quality starts with the development process and techniques and even with requirements.

With regard to the lack of QA guidelines and reusable QA solutions for the teams, this problem can occur because of insufficient or incorrect use of test automation. Today, there is a wide range of tools and approaches to it; however, not everyone is ready to invest in this area as part of their processes.

Test automation is not a silver bullet, but when it is used wisely, the benefits from it cannot be overlooked.

What about the number one challenge defined in the list by WQR? The lack of appropriate test environment and data. Though it may sound strange, it seems to be a little bit contrived.

Yes, to create the environment that is used in the real world for the BFSI or telecom sector is not simple and is very expensive. Fortunately, now it is possible to use virtualization tools and various emulators. They are not perfect, but sometimes it's the only way out. In addition, in such situations, it might be the right choice to comprehensively evaluate the testing approach.

For example, we know that customers do not place orders at night in an online store, so why don't we use the production environment at this time to conduct tests?

Many companies are also unable to apply test automation at appropriate levels. To make it up to the desired level, each time, when making a decision about the need for automation and determining the desired coverage, focus on a simple indicator - ROI.

Of course, in an ideal world, one can apply test automation for 100% of the cases or test scenarios. But we do not live in an ideal world, which means it's worth considering TCO and carefully determining situations in which automation will be useful and won't become a burden.

Test automation: How to overcome its difficulties

It seems to be quite challenging to achieve the desired level of test automation. Here are three ways to get the full benefits from it.

1. Accurately choose the test automation approach and tools

Doing so, you can reach a high return on automation and get your priorities right, making test automation solutions relevant and sought after on the project.

A common problem is companies complaining they can't find the right tools while they have too many of them. The heart of the issue lies in the planning and preparatory stages of test automation implementation.

If you weigh the pros and cons and choose the right tool (even if it's not perfect) in time, then a problem will not arise at all. Unfortunately, often, instead of such a balanced decision, companies start experimenting and fail as a result.

Of course, there are exceptions when such experiments can be justified. If you need to effectively automate testing for both mobile and web applications, there is no need to search for one solution. Finding two solutions that can be integrated into the test automation process is quite a realistic approach and will allow you to control the number of tools without ignoring the advantages of each one.

2. Leave aside unrealistic expectations about test automation

It is worth noting that the introduction of automation is an investment that will bring results but not always from the first day. Build a model that allows you to evaluate the usefulness of automation on your projects and track KPIs.

3. Make sure that people who implement automation know their business

Often succumbing to advertising about the latest tools that are easily used and maintained, automation is transferred to people who have never implemented it before. The expected results cannot be improved, and the effectiveness of such initiatives is questionable.

The WQR offers the following solutions to the problems that companies face in automation: think about test automation as a broad and connected intelligent platform. Not just as a capability.

Test automation is a limitless discipline that cannot be understood in a single day and it's as comprehensive as developing an architectural solution for a future application. You should not leave it for later. If you approach it wisely, then you don't have to redo it, and the ROI will be really high.
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