Test Automation Quadrant — What to Automate First (Infographic)
Best for: agreeing which regression tests deserve engineering time this quarter Avoid when: the audience wants test-case counts or pass rates (use a metric board) Answers: automate now, automate next, keep manual, or delete the test entirely
infographic compare-quadrant-simple-illus
theme
colorPrimary #2b66c4
palette
- #2b66c4
- #2f9e44
- #f3a33c
- #d1242f
- #7048e8
- #0f9b9b
- #c16f8a
- #7c5a3d
data
title Test Coverage Triage
desc Frequency of failure vs cost to automate
compares
- label Automate Now
desc Runs every commit, stable oracle
children
- label Login and session expiry
- label Automate Next
desc Frequent, needs test data work
children
- label Checkout totals
- label Keep Manual
desc Rare and cheap to check
children
- label Marketing copy review
- label Retire
desc Rare, flaky, expensive upkeep
children
- label Legacy export snapshotsData Shape
Four compares entries describing the decision slots; children holds the concrete tests. Keep test names
recognisable to the team — this diagram is a shared backlog, not a taxonomy.
Key Options
| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
infographic compare-quadrant-simple-illus |
Leaves room for an illustration in each quadrant |
compare-quadrant-quarter-simple-card |
Denser, more list-like alternative |
children |
Two to three tests per slot keeps the render inside the 900×600 canvas |
Pitfalls
- ❌ Quadrant axes hidden in the title → ✅ name axes in
desc, e.g. "Frequent + expensive upkeep" - ❌ Treating "Retire" as an insult → ✅ deleting tests is a cost decision, phrase it neutrally
- ❌ Listing the whole suite → ✅ pick the contested cases; this is a decision aid
Alternatives
| Variant | Use instead |
|---|---|
| Sequence of test phases | incident-response-runbook.md |
| Scorecard with numeric weights | vendor-selection-scorecard.md |
| Coverage metrics over time | feature-adoption-trend.md |