Lean from the Trenches

Step 3: Sort the List in Priority Order

Which test do you think we should automate first? Should we automate Change skin, which is low-risk, easy to test manually, and difficult to automate? Or should we automate Block account, which is high-risk, difficult to test manually, and easy to automate? That’s a fairly easy decision.

Here’s a more difficult decision. Should we automate Validate transfer, which is high-risk, hard to test manually, and hard to automate? Or should we automate Deposit cash, which also is high-risk but easy to test manually and easy to automate? That decision is context dependent.

You basically need to make three decisions about which test to automate first:

• The high-risk test that’s easy to test manually or the low-risk ...