Episode 5 navigated the path that companies follow in adopting open source software, from experimentation to consumption to participation, and sometimes to project leadership. This path represents an evolution of open source culture for an organization, accruing both benefits and responsibilities along the way. Gabriel and his test automation team are enjoying real returns on their investments in open source, setting an example for collaboration that offered ROI across their entire company.
Challenges Met and Overcome
By leveraging the experience and enthusiasm of team members like OSPO lead Codie, and community participation by lab tech Francisco, the whole team was able to meet and overcome a range of challenges to adopting OpenTAP and other open source technology:
Familiarity and comfort with legacy in-house and proprietary test automation solutions
Concerns from the legal department about licensing terms, obligations
and control of IPGeneral resistance to change – a factor in all organizations
Fortunately, the team was able to point to a string of internal successes to justify OpenTAP adoption:
A smooth pilot that leveraged existing hardware, software and test cases, outperforming expectations
An early production implementation that kept the test team on or ahead of schedule
Collecting and sharing compelling metrics for performance and engineering effort
Moreover, group director Tanya and other managers were impressed to learn how adopting OpenTAP and participating in an open source project helped to eliminate risk from internal legacy software as well as from commercial vendor lock-in, reducing or eliminating delays and overhead from maintaining in-house test platforms, lowering defect rates and improving margins. Win-win-win.
All teams benefitted from the insights, resources and experience of the OpenTAP community. Soon even critics were becoming advocates of OpenTAP-based transformation of test automation.
Collaboration is its Own Reward, and More
The company benefited fiscally, operationally, technically and reputationally.
Building on open source OpenTAP reduced costs of technology acquisition and upkeep, freeing up resources and supporting re-use of legacy hardware and software
Standardizing on a single test automation platform allowed test teams to consolidate development efforts and re-use code across projects
OpenTAP delivered boosts in performance and capabilities, streamlining test execution and supported greater parallelism in test operations
Visible participation in a community-based project enhanced the company’s reputation for innovation, attracting new talent and helping to engage a global partner ecosystem
The individuals behind the adoption and integration of OpenTAP and open source software were willing to take risks and exert leadership, within their groups, the company and beyond.
For that, they were rewarded:
Gabriel – The "Change Angel"
Built a new career on technology transformation
Promoted to Director
Now responsible for transforming a larger organization that requires
next-generation automation of testing and other technologies
Codie – OSPO Lead
Part-time open source advocacy now fully funded
Elevated to new levels of visibility and importance
OSPO is now a permanent fixture in the CTO’s office
Francisco – Lab Tech
Internally, became chief architect on the manufacturing test team
Externally, as the company’s participation and contributions evolved, Francisco
was offered the role of a project maintainer for OpenTAPBegan blogging and presenting at conferences on open source test automation
Tanya – Executive Sponsor
Promoted from VP of system test to CTO
Now oversees all R&D, design validation and manufacturing test
Encouraging other groups to look at open source technologies and projects
Michael – Corporate Attorney
Worked with the OSPO to establish company-wide policies for
use of open source and contribution to open source projectsBenefiting from community programs to support legal expertise
Now has more time to devote to contracts, patents and other strategic issues
Now It’s Your Turn
Like our heroes, you have the opportunity to revolutionize your approach to test automation, transform your organization, and advance your career, with OpenTAP.
Take the first step.
Visit OpenTAP.io and join the OpenTAP Community.
To Learn More
Once your plugins are complete, you will do package them so they can be reused and scaled across your team, or even published on packages.opentap.io. Learn how to do this from the videos below: