Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality Engineering

Tools Don’t Solve Test Automation - Péter Földházi

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"I'm tool agnostic. I don't care what the tool is." - Péter Földházi

In this episode, I talk with Péter Földházi about test automation that solves real problems, not shiny tools. Péter brings two decades in quality and helped write the ISTQB automation syllabi. We ask why to automate, where it fits, and how the test pyramid guides choices across unit, API, and UI. I like how the simple pyramid makes choices visible. He shares a gaming case with 5,000 defects and a velocity drop. Strategy first, then tools, six month steps, and clear value.

Péter was first involved with QA as a beta tester of DOTA in 2006. Since joining EPAM in 2012, he moved towards test automation, and is currently working in the USA as a Quality Architect. He is leading Game Testing Consulting and GenAI Adoption programs in the Americas.

Péter has authored two ISTQB syllabi: Test Automation Engineering & Test Automation Strategy. He also invented two test automation methodologies: the Flow Model Pattern and the Tri-Layer Testing Architecture, the latter published as a white paper by the PNSQC. Péter has been one of the review board members of the HUSTEF since 2015.

Péter is a regular keynote and tutorial speaker on conferences such as STARWEST, STAREAST, and SauceCon. He used to be a guest lecturer at 3 Budapest based universities: Óbuda, Pázmány and the ELTE. Brewing beer and planting chilis are some of his hobbies.

Highlights:

  • Tool selection only makes sense after the team has defined which problem test automation is meant to solve and what value it should return.
  • A test automation pyramid visualized as current state versus target state gives non-technical stakeholders a concrete picture of where effort and money should shift.
  • Testing the same functionality at multiple pyramid levels is not redundant: unit tests assess code quality, while UI tests verify that integrated user journeys work as intended.
  • The test automation framework (scripts, business logic layer, code libraries) is only one part of the test automation solution; pipeline integration and external system connections are equally part of it.
  • Without at least one person on the team who already has test automation experience, an adoption effort will either fail or cost far more than planned.
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    Software Testing Unleashed - QA, DevEx & Quality EngineeringBy Richard Seidl | Software Development & Testing Expert