Restoring Balance

RANT ISSUE NO. 3

Date: 2024-05-22 20:00

When did automated regression testing turn into an obsession?

It’s like I woke up one morning to read the headline “Automated Regression Testing is the wave of the future!”.

What ever happened to actual testing?

The regression obsession fad will give the Keto diet a run for its money!

Testing is so much more than automating tests for a pipeline that constantly breaks.

What ever happened to the good old days of using thinking to solve problems rather than becoming data entry clerks for scripts?

Nope, the trend now is all about automated regression tests as the end-all and be-all of testing.

But as Mother once said, “The radio only speaks once,” yet here we are, tuning into the same station over and over, listening to the chorus of “Don’t worry, our automated regression will catch our bugs.”

Depending solely on automation is like trusting the Millennium Falcon’s autopilot to navigate an asteroid field — sooner or later you’re bound to crash.

Testing is more than regressing, it’s a cognitive activity that requires investigation, interrogation, and illustration. It’s all about learning.

When testing is reduced to data entry, it’s like trusting a self-driving car to navigate a maze without any human oversight — you’re bound to hit a wall sooner or later.

If we value the people who use our products, quality testing work must remain a priority.

Let’s be like Luke Skywalker, use both technology and the Force of human cognition to guide our testing efforts and ensure we’re not sacrificing quality for convenience.

Bring back the human in human interactive tests and break free from the automation obsession.