Tag: testing

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What happened to the test automation pyramid?

In a February 2020 article on cucumber.io, “Eviscerating the Test Automation Pyramid”, Seb Rose points out some of the issues that ensue when people misunderstand the intent of the test automation pyramid (or triangle) originally proposed by Mike Cohn and interpret the model too literally. He suggests if we remove the various levels and labels that people have added on the inside of the triangle, and think about the shape as such, we’ll come closer to the original intent – many tests of small scope and fewer tests of larger scope.

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Testing as the core discipline of software delivery

Of the basic disciplines involved in software development and delivery – analysis, design, programming, testing, management, deployment, operations, architecture, etc. – programming is usually seen as the most technically demanding and complicated to learn. Many people look primarily to programming when they assess the effectiveness of their software delivery processes. Historically, the knee-jerk response to slow delivery has been to hire more programmers. After all, software is code, right? Therefore, if there’s a problem delivering software, it must have something to do with the way it’s coded.

After some 36 years in the IT industry, most of it in a hands-on software development role, I’ve come to the conclusion that the core discipline in software development is not programming, but rather testing. Even if programming is objectively more time-consuming to master than the other disciplines, it seems to me that testing is more critical to success. Continue reading Testing as the core discipline of software delivery