Start with value, not ease
The easiest test to automate is not necessarily the most useful. Start with repeatable, high-value coverage that protects meaningful risk.
Good first candidates
- Critical smoke tests
- P1 regression
- Stable APIs
- Repeatable business rules
- High-frequency manual checks
- Data validation rules
- Cross-browser essentials
- CI quality gates
Use a simple decision model
Repeated?
↓ yes
Objective result?
↓ yes
Stable?
↓ yes
Important risk?
↓ yes
Maintainable?
↓ yes
AUTOMATE
Choose the right layer
Prefer the lowest effective technical layer. A business rule that can be covered reliably at API or component level should not depend only on UI automation.
AskAQA recommendation
Recommendation
Automate critical, stable, repeatable regression first—especially where execution is frequent and manual effort is expensive. Measure coverage of important risk, not automation count.