𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒑𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔
By Eduard Dubilyer , CTO of Skipper Soft
Over the past 4 years, I’ve personally built 26 automation frameworks and consulted dozens of startups.
And I keep seeing the same painful pattern repeat:
They try to build test automation the hard way.
It ends up burning time, budget – and trust.
❌ 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 #1: 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧-𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡
– You hire an automation engineer.
– They spend weeks onboarding, researching tools, designing the “perfect” architecture…
First test runs? Maybe 3 months later.
All built by someone who’s done it once or twice – if that.
𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭: 𝐁𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝.
❌ 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 #2: 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐐𝐀 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲
– You get locked into a 12-month contract.
– Progress is tied to quarterly milestones.
– You’re paying for consulting hours, status calls, and resources on-site.
But internally? You’re still managing, validating, and aligning everything.
𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭: 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 – 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐭. 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭.
✅ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨? 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐕𝐅: 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐦 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤
– It’s fastest, leanest, and focused on what really matters.
– Built in agile slices – just like your product.
– Small increments. Constant feedback. Zero waste.
Here’s the 6-step MVF process:
1. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬
Get clear on what absolutely must 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 break.
2. 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐌𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠
Signup. Checkout. Dashboard. To define everything that would break customer trust – that’s your target.
3. 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧
Built for now, with the future in mind. Lightweight, flexible, not over-engineered.
4. 𝐌𝐕𝐅 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Real tests. Real coverage. Real value. In days, not months.
5. 𝐂𝐈 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Hooked into your pipeline, giving you signal on every commit.
6. 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐄𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
Train your developers to own and evolve the framework. No vendor lock-in. Ever.
〰️ 〰️
A startup once came to us after getting quoted $12K for an “enterprise-grade” test framework.
We delivered their MVF in 20 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬.
Covered their riskiest flows.
Flat fee: $3,000.
Suddenly, they could deploy with confidence.
〰️ 〰️
Still think it’s “too early” for test automation for your product?
Let’s prove otherwise – in 20 days.
𝐃𝐌 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭.
