Dev & QA Automation in 2025
Top 6 reflection questions for leaders of
medium and growth phase software companies
Looking to implement Dev & QA automation in 2025 to improve quality and streamline efficiency?
Leaders in software and technology are investing their time, energy, and dollars to automate their development, QA, and DevOps in pursuit of fewer released bugs, reduced production issues, greater coding efficiency, and ultimately, lower costs to develop software.
With so many automation tools and methodologies, including those that involve the emerging AI trend, it's often difficult to find a starting point to begin your automation journey. Based on our experience working with Canada's most recognized companies, we've compiled a list of 6 major considerations our clients find most valuable and insightful at the start of their own automation projects.
CSE is Canada's QA Consultants
Connected Solution Experts is the trusted QA partner for enterprises of all sizes in Canada since 2012. We help companies build robust, lasting, and transformative development and QA processes that take advantage of best-in-class tools, automation, and AI.
Has the need for increased testing slowed your release cycle?
As your software gains new features and becomes more complex, your team may start spending more time managing and testing existing code rather than focusing on building new features to attract new customers. Adding a new feature may spawn an exponential number of new test cases. Your existing testing methodology may not be keeping up with the growth you’re forecasting.
Thankfully, QA and test automation with the right the right mix of tools and processes, including using AI, can be the right solution to allow your team to move forward with your product roadmap, rather being mired in the past and present.
If the reason to automate isn’t to improve velocity, then what is the true reason behind pursuing automation?
Every organization has a different reason why they want to automate, and being crystal clear about your automation objectives will help you determine what success ultimately would look like for your automation project. Are you looking to cut costs, accommodate new projects, or some other internal objective? Are you automating to solve current headaches or plan for future growth? Are you acting on a mandate to implement AI for your company?
Being clear with your reasons will accomplish two things: you’ll identify the right tools to automate, and you’ll be able to set metrics that align with your goals, both of which are great motivators for your team.
Are you automating to replace human processes or complement them?
Some types of QA automation, such as API and functional testing, disproportionally benefits from a finely tuned automated testing suite; however, automation can also complement human processes to make coding cycles faster, more efficient, and less error-prone. The usage of AI further allows you to adapt to rapidly changing codebase and can work side-by-side with your team to make them more efficient.
The methodology and tools that you implement for a very rules-based automation project to replace human procedures can be completely different than those implemented to streamline repetitive tasks for your developers.
Do you feel your QA automation tools are too isolated and don’t work well as part of a larger process?
As your organization grows, you may find your teams using a number of different QA automation tools that aren’t integrated, and don’t communicate with each other. Project managers often lengthen timelines and increase project overhead to accomodate integration manual processes between tools that are implemented ad-hoc.
Having a strategy and roadmap will help in select and implementing tools that work well with each other and actually boost productivity rather than hinder it. Implement ad-hoc tools on the fly often leads to wasted effort when tools are inevitably replaced with a more coherent automation roadmap.
Have your regulatory compliance obligations held you back from Dev and QA automation?
If your organization works in a highly regulated space, your automation solutions must also comply with the same rules that your existing team and processes adhere to. Regulations such as GDPR, HIPPA, and SOC2 are just a few common regulatory requirements that need to be built into your automation solution.
Automation solutions don’t need to be more onerous than human processes - they just need to be identified and taken into account when implementing new tools and processes.
Have your dev and QA teams expressed anxiety or uncertainty with your automation plan?
Dev and QA automation can cause concern and uncertainty amongst your team, with many of those IT, Dev, and QA fearing for their livelihood that their jobs are being replaced by "robots". Being clear and upfront with your team on the objectives of your automation efforts will reduce anxiety around automation and lead to a smoother implementation overall.
In our experience, the majority of our clients choose to implement dev and QA automation to make the lives of their developers and testers better by eliminating tedious and repetitive tasks. Being clear with your team and focusing on the future state where humans can do more things that move the needle.
Building Dev & QA automation at the start of a rapid development cycle is akin to putting up a building on top of quicksand - you have to be very strategic with all your decisions to avoid getting stuck in a maintenance nightmare. Ultimately, the end state would see you on solid footing.
Hon Lee
VP and Co-Founder, Connected Solution Experts
Get our clarity question prompts for software leaders to help your team get started with dev and QA automation in 2025!
Are you considering Dev and QA automation but don't know where to start? Based on our experience implementing QA automation with Canada's most recognized companies, we've developed a list of pointed and thought-provoking prompts you can ask your team, and your answers will give you clarity and insights as you continue with your automation journey in 2025. Fill out the form and we'll send you the guide and question prompts!