You Bet Your Life - Playing the Automation Tool Selection Game

In order to choose an appropriate testing tool, organizations need to consider three major facets of their testing ecosystem: strategy, audience, and technology. Using this ecosystem and real-life examples, Paul Grizzaffi shows how shows a compare-and-contrast of two organizations’ tool selections.

In 1947, the game show You Bet Your Life premiered on ABC Radio, hosted by the inimitable Groucho Marx. The gameplay required contestants to bet some of their bankroll on whether or not they could answer the next question. For our purposes, that question is “What’s the best automation tool?”

It’s a valid question, right? You’ve asked it; I’ve asked it. The concern is not the asking of the question, but rather when the question is asked. The “best tool” question is often the first one asked when planning an automation initiative but perhaps we should have more information before we can judiciously decide upon one tool or another.

In this session, Paul Grizzaffi will explain how information such as strategy, intended audience, and environment is relevant to tool choice. Attendees will hear prerequisites to asking the “best tool” question so that they have an appropriate context in which to answer it. He will also introduce the notion of “most appropriate in class”.

Set against a whimsical game show backdrop, attendees leave this session armed with information that will enable them to have a better chance of answering the “best tool” question and not lose their bankroll. It should be noted that even though this talk centers on test automation example, the ecosystem applies outside of automation and can be used when selecting CI/CD tools as well.

Note that this session will give you valuable context for making a decision regarding automation tools. This session cannot tell you “the tool to rule them all” or provide a cheat sheet of which tool to match every situation; much like unicorn tears and the Tooth Fairy, those things do not exist.

I’ve worked in test automation for over 25 years in multiple industries including healthcare, e-commerce, and telecom, making me highly experienced in the discipline. Additionally, I’m an experienced speaker who has presented at local, national, and international conferences, including keynote talks. Samples of my speaking experience can be found here.