Take the time to evaluate your team and your goals before committing to automation, and be sure to try out different tools instead of following what might be popular at the time. Automation is critical, but bad automation will only slow down your processes and sink your projects.

For testers interested in moving into test automation, Justin Rohrman usually suggests that they get started by learning to write a little code—more specifically, working with their software's API. You don't have to jump into tooling just yet. You can begin testing the data and workflow of the API first. Here's how.

Some people just don’t care about creating great products or services. They believe the marketplace will settle for lower quality. Lee Copeland argues that as software testers, we need to combat that way of thinking by embracing craftsmanship. Focus on quality with knowledge, skill, diligence, judgment, and passion.