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I'm Hunting Sasquatch – Finding Intermittent Issues Using Periodic Automation

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32

min

I'm Hunting Sasquatch – Finding Intermittent Issues Using Periodic Automation

I'm Hunting Sasquatch – Finding Intermittent Issues Using Periodic Automation

I'm Hunting Sasquatch – Finding Intermittent Issues Using Periodic Automation

I'm Hunting Sasquatch – Finding Intermittent Issues Using Periodic Automation

publish date

Jul 31, 2024

duration

32

min

Difficulty

Intermediate

Beginner

Beginner

Beginner

Case details

In American pop culture, Sasquatch (also known as Bigfoot) is a (likely) non-existent, ape-like, creature infrequently seen in the Pacific Northwest of North America. In the software realm, we have our own version of Sasquatch: that irritating, "intermittent issue" occurring in the system. These kinds of issues are typically difficult to find and often blamed on anything other than a product defect. Typically, we run our automated tests on state-change boundaries, i.e. when we have a successful build and deployment; we look for problems when we think we may have introduced problems. Logically, these points of change are when we expect to have injected new issues, so, we only look for issues at those times. This approach alone, however, only gives us limited opportunities to reproduce our intermittent issues. If we also ran our automation periodically, we would have additional opportunities to reproduce these types of issues; we can call this approach periodic automation. Using a real-world example, Paul Grizzaffi will explain how periodic automation can help hunt down these elusive targets. For additional context, he will explain how this approach relates to High-Volume Automated Testing (HiVAT), as well as some HiVAT basics and examples. He will also explore some considerations of which we need to be mindful when implementing periodic automation to avoid desensitization to failures. Though we may never find “the real” Sasquatch, applying periodic automation increases our chances of finding our own intermittent issues.

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About Author

Senior Principle Automation Architect

As a QE Automation Architect, Paul Grizzaffi is following his passion for providing technology solutions to testing, QE, and QA organizations, including automation assessments, implementations, and through activities benefiting the broader testing community. An accomplished keynote speaker, international conference speaker, and writer, Paul has spoken at local and national conferences and meetings. He is an advisor to STPCon as well as a member of the Industry Advisory Board of the Advanced Research Center for Software Testing and Quality Assurance (STQA) at UT Dallas where he is a frequent guest lecturer. In addition to spending time with his twins, Paul enjoys sharing his experiences and learning from other testing professionals, as well as reciting lyrics from 80s metal songs; his mostly cogent thoughts can be read on his blog at https://responsibleautomation.wordpress.com/.

Senior Principle Automation Architect

As a QE Automation Architect, Paul Grizzaffi is following his passion for providing technology solutions to testing, QE, and QA organizations, including automation assessments, implementations, and through activities benefiting the broader testing community. An accomplished keynote speaker, international conference speaker, and writer, Paul has spoken at local and national conferences and meetings. He is an advisor to STPCon as well as a member of the Industry Advisory Board of the Advanced Research Center for Software Testing and Quality Assurance (STQA) at UT Dallas where he is a frequent guest lecturer. In addition to spending time with his twins, Paul enjoys sharing his experiences and learning from other testing professionals, as well as reciting lyrics from 80s metal songs; his mostly cogent thoughts can be read on his blog at https://responsibleautomation.wordpress.com/.

Senior Principle Automation Architect

As a QE Automation Architect, Paul Grizzaffi is following his passion for providing technology solutions to testing, QE, and QA organizations, including automation assessments, implementations, and through activities benefiting the broader testing community. An accomplished keynote speaker, international conference speaker, and writer, Paul has spoken at local and national conferences and meetings. He is an advisor to STPCon as well as a member of the Industry Advisory Board of the Advanced Research Center for Software Testing and Quality Assurance (STQA) at UT Dallas where he is a frequent guest lecturer. In addition to spending time with his twins, Paul enjoys sharing his experiences and learning from other testing professionals, as well as reciting lyrics from 80s metal songs; his mostly cogent thoughts can be read on his blog at https://responsibleautomation.wordpress.com/.

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910 Foulk Road, Suite 201

Wilmington, DE 19803, USA

© 2025 Geekle. All rights reserved.

Questions?

Chat with Us!

910 Foulk Road, Suite 201

Wilmington, DE 19803, USA

© 2025 Geekle. All rights reserved.

Questions?

Chat with Us!

910 Foulk Road, Suite 201

Wilmington, DE 19803, USA

© 2025 Geekle. All rights reserved.