Just because everybody does it, doesn’t mean there is no better option.
The spike in spirituality, that happens worldwide on Thursday evenings is caused by DAP (Deploy And Pray). Not all DAP-Practicioners perform weekly, not all of them on Thursdays. But Thursday evenings are by far the most common times, when people who deploy new/improved software to productive systems remember their faith and hope for the best. Too often it went wrong, too often the mess, that came after deployment was epic.
Following a religion is one thing. “Believing” or “hoping” that a software release will work, is another story. “Knowing” should be the approach when it comes to deploying software.
DAP, that it wasn’t us.
Dear God. If it’s your wish that this deployment wreaks havoc, so be it. Just don’t let my department be the cause for it! Thank you. Namaste.
This prayer is fully understandable. Most large organizations are split in Divisions, Regions, Markets, Departments and so on. Their IT-Departments or providers are also often large organizations with thousands of people. Now if the new version – almost inevitably – will destroy something, than at least hope, that the cause is not from us. Sure we’ll support and help the poor guys, who get the heat this time. Just not us! We have enough reporting to do as it is. No need to additionally prepare a detailed post-mortem, attend emergency calls with the agile coach, architecture coach, business analyst, internal process auditors and many other people who show up “to help”.
Famous last words: “No DAP in our organization!”
You think it works until proven otherwise. It’s not impossible to have a really great CD/CI-Infrastructure, responsible developers and really sensible coverage in test automation. Not impossible, just not very likely. Of course everybody does their best, but we’re all humans. We make mistakes. Sometimes a Developer is keen to develop the next upcoming feature that he doesn’t really think deep about those unit-tests.
“If anything would be wrong, the testers would find it anyway”
he thinks. This might even be true in the initial release of the new code. Little did they know about future side effects – a disaster waiting to happen.
DAP has never failed!
OK. Maybe you have a very simple application, maybe you were just lucky. Maybe both. Even if DAP worked for you, wouldn’t it be better to sleep well – at least have no doubts your productive system and the condition of the software?
The opposite of DAP: DWC
“Deploy with confidence” is a relief to all those Thursday-Evening-DAPers. Knowledge is better than hoping and believing – at least when it comes to deployment of software. DWC can happen, when you glance at a report of the automated end2end regression tests of your system landscape right before you press the button to move everything up to production.
At the same time, all relevant test cases for functionality that you just brought to the production are added to the regression test set. Through this procedure you’ll again DWC coming Thursday and maybe light a candle for the colleagues who still DAP.
DWC: good idea, but too expensive
Oh, I hear you! What’s the cost per seat for a decent software automation license? 7000 €/year? That’s not cheap, but nothing compared to the costs of a decent test automation expert, who can operate this ridiculously complex software. It’s understandable if you say “Thanks, but no thanks” – at least with these parameters.
What if there’s a new, painless approach to software test automation? True open source software – no freemium traps, no vendor lock-in, no test automation experts, no license fees. You could reach DWC at much lower costs, subsequently drastically reduce your TCO and even increase your deployment speed. That’s where baangt comes into play. baangt is pure open source and can be operated by everybody with skills in Microsoft Excel. Let your business departments run the tests they need to verify a software delivery! No sending specifications around half the globe, no more misunderstandings, pure efficiency. Every Thursday and beyond.
Easier said than done
Starting a test automation project from the scratch is not done in a few minutes – especially if your system landscape is large, grown and complex with many layers of processes and many variations. Getting startet with baangt is simple, as simple as filling in a form in MS Excel. Simply define all parameters in a file, then execute the regression. Once you’re satisfied you can even deploy those tests to baangtDB and run them using your test infrastructure like Zalenium or Selenium Grid. Nevertheless doing this for a large company with many processes is not happening overnight. But the switch from DAP und DWC is totally worth it!
Move ahead
Download baangt now. If you’re stuck somewhere along the way, chances are the community can help. Maybe you’re lucky and are get chosen for a free POC (Proof of concept). We give them away once a week. Apply via E-Mail to info@baangt.org and let us know your test automation needs.
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