Alternative views of the test pyramid diagram

warning.. there is an attempt at humour in here..

A lot of people like to use simple diagrams to explain their test approach on a project or system. One that crops a lot is the test pyramid as described in Alister Scott's WatirMelon blog. I love this diagram, and thought that it gave people a high level understanding about what and how you are going to be testing, both automatically and as a human on a project. I was wrong! After a recent series of criticism about a test strategy I produced, I realised that not everyone sees the world like I do. So here are a couple of takes on the test pyramid to help other people understand the diagram a bit better. Its so difficult to be all things to all people!

Pyramid at sunrise

Obviously, the sun is what humans do, with their minds etc.. and the pyramid describes the effort invested in certain test automation activities.

When I was looking at the diagram above, I couldn't help noticing similarities to pac-man, so here is my second attempt.

pac-man tests

For more information see my brief entry on the test pyramid.

The Automation Pyramid

Think about using the test automation pyramid when planning your test automation strategy.

The test automation pyramid was used by Mike Cohn to describe the value of different types of automated tests in the context of an ntier application. The concept is very simple. Invest more time and effort in those tests that are lower down the pyramid than those at the peak, as those tests lower down the pyramid provide the most value in terms of quick feedback and reliability, whereas those at the peak are expensive to implement, brittle, and time consuming.

The traditional pyramid is split into three layers, Unit testing at the base, integration/API tests in the middle layer, and UI tests forming the peak of the pyramid. Many now opt to describe the UI layer as the ‘end to end’ layer as this phrase better represents those types of test.

Useful posts on the subject:

http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TestPyramid.html by Martin Fowler

http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/the-forgotten-layer-of-the-test-automation-pyramid
by Mike Cohn