Dirty automation

Not everyone knows that you can't automate everything. And only automators themselves know what terrible things they sometimes deal with. But this time I got into a situation when almost every single thing was going wrong - there was no right ways even for basic tasks. Automation tool (IBM RFT) often behaved incorrectly or contradicted its own manual while testing an inoffensive-looking Java application. Any operation was so long that you might have brewed some tea or found a new job before the main window structure analysis finished. A very distant deadline started appearing so close while the worst memories of other projects started exciting nostalgia. I will give a talk about the most subtle testing automation project I've ever taken part in and whether an automation engineer needs or does not need conscience. This lecture is dedicated to functional testing automation specialists as well as to anyone interested in what testing automation looks like from inside.