What do people mean when they say "automation is a tool"?

24th March 2025
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Emily O'Connor 's profile
Emily O'Connor

Principal Test Engineer

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Talk Description

In Emily O'Connor's first 404 talk, she discusses her understanding of the meaning of “automated testing is a tool”. 

When performing exploratory testing, testers learn a lot about the system under test, but by the time automation is written - testers are only putting into code fixed assertions, meaning that automation does not provide new knowledge and is used as a tool to save teams time searching for regression bugs.

Principal Test Engineer
She/Her
I have a sixth sense for bugs, probably due to my experience as a dev (introducing them)! I love to learn and read. Playwright fan-girl.
Principal Test Engineer
She/Her
I have a sixth sense for bugs, probably due to my experience as a dev (introducing them)! I love to learn and read. Playwright fan-girl.
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