Decision Models
Please skip to Choosing Automation Solution directly if you are jumper like me, however I would appreciate if you give me your eyes for this below content please.
I was always fascinated by the convergence of theories and practical applications and I am a believer that we go back and forth between dispelling theories and learn through “hit or miss” AND learn from experiences and get back to fundamentals (theories). This write-up is to get back to fundamentals after I gained some real-time “hit or miss” experiences for couple of years now.
Culture Change
Culture change is a big deal right. We all know that being a change agent is more than what meets the eye. After being in a couple of firms now, especially in the front line, articulating the strategy/vision and at the same time implementing it is a daunting task. More because, there are no superman’s except in movies. Most firms would hope for a culture change. Some of the images below should convey what I really believe in.
We will definitely need an early set of Innovators and early adopters. Typically this happens as choosing an area/ project/ set of folks inside a company who are naturally enthusiastic to be part of fast changes.
Putting an framework and organization into thought helps convey the message and ideas. Below infographic depicts the same in a very elegant manner.
Often when we are making decisions, we have too many moving parts and competing priorities and constraints. For example, I might like some cool technology out there which does wonders, but questions that need to be answered before jumping on to the bandwagon are:
- Can I afford it
- Does my team have skill sets to adopt and maintain it
- How do I find staff that can get me jump started
- What is my budget for this year and what is my forecast
- What if it fails in my environment and what are my risk mitigation plans
I think you get the point here [A more exhaustive set of questions at the bottom of the page]
This is nothing but a classic Decision sciences problem that applies to every industry, every leader, every management and every situation in life. The same applies to be able to choose an Automation Solution too – it is no different.
Giving it a little bit organized thinking for this problem (putting my MBA hat on), I view this as belonging to one of the following categories (if someone has more thoughts on this, please write to me, I will be glad to have this modified):
Linear:
The assumption we make here is that the output or effect caused by each input is linear (unfortunately that’s not the reality right;)
Decision Equation: An equation having certain variables that need to be assigned values and we want to figure out the optimal (max. or min.) variable inputs. Think of variables as money, staff, time etc. And better what, they are dependent variables, meaning if one changes, the other one might change too.
Constraints: The variables are governed by constraints meaning they cannot exceed certain values or cannot be below certain values etc. Obviously we cannot hire infinite staff, have infinite money or time etc. And combine this with the complexity of dependent variables.
Optimization: Based on our target or expected goal (maximize or minimize or some target #), we will need to figure out the inputs
Range:
The problem is pretty much the same described in Linear above, however the difference is that our constraints for the variables are within ranges [x,y] and the variables are again dependent on each other and we might not have simulated environments to figure out “what-if” scenarios
Probabilities:
The problem is pretty much the same described in Linear above, however the difference is that our constraints for the variables have a probability distribution sometimes we might know the distribution, most of the times we might not know.
Where are we going with this ?
As we can see there will be # of dimensions (variables) in real world that come into play and we are perplexed by the decision making process. The answer to most of such tough questions as we know is “It depends!”. Depends on what? Depends on how sure one knows what expected outcome is supposed to be. It is true. The more we know what we want, the closer we are getting to identify a solution to our problem. If we want to find a perfect predictive solution, I guess “Good luck” to you.
We are not trying to find a silver bullet. We are trying to improve one step further over our current state. For me this mindset really helps make decisions go much smoother of course with a certain set of guidelines I would recommend:
- Smallest bit of improvement we can do NOW (vs. boiling the ocean)
- Ability to measure the progress
- Continuous Feedback
- Build a thin slice and then expand
- Let it go sometimes
Moving on, I will try to bring some organization to the thoughts and information on internet around being able to choose a Test Automation Solution
Frequently asked Questions
The below three sections of questions (faq) is experiential advice after working with small, medium and large scale companies. As we know the needs and requirements differ based on the budget, time and other constraints that each company has, however these questions help guide making your decision. Please click the ‘+’ sign to expand.