When to use manual vs. automated software testing tools

I was recently interviewed for a cool article on test automation by Elisa Gabbert. It was posted this week on SearchSoftwareQuality.com. My favorite quote:

Kelly was less cautious. "As for bleeding-edge tools, I think it's all fair game," he said. "I often find that I'm writing automated tests from scratch in Ruby or Java, but for the bulk of the automation work there are many great tools available (both commercially and open source)."

I just like being classified as "less cautious." It makes me smile. I know that I'm about as conservative as they come when it comes to tool selection, so it's ironic that I'm the loose cannon.

I will say, I was surprised when I read Scarpino's comment that unit test tools might not be ready for prime time. I don't think I could disagree more. I think the tools are great and when I find developers who aren't doing developer testing - they loose points with me. That is of course provided they work in a language and project context where it's easy to do that testing.

I like the article. Glad I was asked to be involved.