Many teams still approach test automation as a one-time initiative—something to “set up and forget.” But automation isn’t a project with an end date; it behaves much more like a product that needs ownership, vision, iteration, and lifecycle management. When automation is treated as a product, the mindset shifts from “write scripts and move on” to “deliver long-term value to testing and engineering.”
Viewing test automation as a product encourages teams to define a roadmap, prioritize high-value use cases, and establish metrics that measure real outcomes such as reduced release risk, faster feedback cycles, and lower regression effort. It also helps engineering leaders allocate roles clearly: Who maintains automation suites? Who ensures new features are testable? Who tracks data about stability, flakiness, or execution time trends?
Another overlooked benefit is sustainability. As applications evolve, automation needs refactoring, observability, and periodic redundancy cleanup. Without dedicated ownership, automation debt builds rapidly and slows teams down—the opposite of what automation is meant to achieve. But with a product mindset, test automation becomes a strategic asset that grows in capability, reliability, and efficiency release after release.