The Most Important Part Of Test Automation

…is the checks, stupid.

It doesn’t matter what framework you are using, what language you write them in, or how many you have.  What matters is how effectively your automated checks help determine ship decisions.

1. What should your automated checks observe?
2. What decision rules should your automated checks use to determine pass/fail? 

Those are the two hardest questions to answer.  You can’t Google them.  You can’t ask your testing mentors.  You’re tempted to hide your decisions when they’re poorly conceived (because you know few will ask).  You’re tempted to focus on what you know people will ask; the questions with the shortest answers:  How many automated checks?  Did they pass?

But, what are they checking?  You know that’s what matters.  Start building your automated check suite there.  The rest can follow.