Test Framework Is A Software Product

When you intend to write a test framework you need to remember the following:

- test framework is a software product, which means everything that applies to a commercial product, also applies to a test framework;

- test framework is not less important than the software under test, it is actually more important (and sometimes more complicated) than the software under test.

Test frameworks are created to help you check if you still meet the requirements (and to do it with less effort than manual test requires). Because if you do not meet the requirements, you do not achieve the project goals and|or create more problems than you solve. For instance, you spend enormous amount of time on manual defect management and dealing with architectural issues when it is too late and too expensive.

So if you decide to create a test framework, you have to:
-- define the requirements;
-- define priorities for the requirements;
-- define stages of maturity (what is to be implemented first and what next);
-- find out how much resource you have (time, technical knowledge, congitive ability, ability to delegate);
-- build the schedule of implementation (preferably by using a Gantt diagram).

Otherwise, I am sorry to say, your test framework will be nothing but a cost.

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