Don't Test Me

The Union

Key Points

• Innovation requires change and businesses need abilities to respond quickly
• Most application and automation changes are brittle and require an SDLC every time a change is made
• Allowing businesses to configure rules outside of integration technology increases their responsiveness and velocity

Low-code platforms cause testable events
Low-code platforms create testable events whenever changes are made. This is a problem. These platforms have focused on developing code and app construction instead of maintaining apps and lowering the total cost of ownership. Therefore, changing code or modifying apps built with low-code platforms involves a lot of IT resources like developers, testers, dev environments, and integration environments.

Most platforms are extensible and allow integrations, but the process is brittle since the business logic and integration methods are coupled together. If you have ever seen a step in the process that included "paste your code here", then you understand what we mean.

To make this process smoother, what's needed is something akin to Excel or WordPress that allows building blocks without coding the wiring or integrations and business logic together. This would avoid having a testable event triggered every time you make a change as with certain other platforms. Understanding how these platforms differ from others is an important consideration when it comes to choosing the right way to automate processes across different systems and teams.

Your automation contributes to your technical debt

Your automation efforts can contribute to technical debt if you are using traditional automation platforms which are essentially a thin veneer over VBScript, JavaScript, or code generators. These changes require coding and testing, however, it is possible to achieve the same velocity with a different architecture pattern.

For instance, using natural language processing between the configuration of building blocks and the programming logic can alleviate many problems associated with change. This layer allows you to invoke backend systems in much the same way as an Excel function is called - without actually needing to call any programming logic.

Having this kind of high-velocity change in automation projects allows businesses to keep up with their needs and avoid having to pull down previously created automation that they cannot maintain due to a lack of the ability to test. By distinguishing between the integration technology and the business layer technology, it is possible to avoid triggering a full SDLC to test changes.

This approach can help reduce technical debt and increase business velocity.

Change without the long-tail

Businesses need to find ways to make changes and automate tasks quickly and cost-effectively without triggering a huge testing cycle. By using modern technology such as natural language processing between the configuration of building blocks and the programming logic it is possible to invoke backend systems in much the same way as an Excel function is called - without needing to call any programming logic. This helps reduce technical debt and increase business velocity by separating automation change management from functional testing.

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