Testing is underrated. Most people start testing late. Early testing saves you money and time.
Testing teaches the engineer to think about their expectations of the product in development.
Creating a test suite early in the project is the best way to guarantee your setup captures the core logic and expectations of the product. What functionality do you anticipate? How should the software behave? These are the questions that align development with the product.
Early tests provides a unique opportunity to catch and correct flaws in the logic early in the project. It is the only way to validate our assumptions and catch logic flaws before they become full-blown problems
Each test asserts that a specific feature will not only work as expected, but does not break the other components.
So, the feature test is the ultimate guarantee that the idea behind the project can actually work. If the core features can work with each other without breaking, then, the entire system will work.
Early testing is the equivalent of debugging. We catch more bugs in early testing. Each test acts as a safety check, ensuring that the core functionality meets expectations and doesn’t introduce issues elsewhere in the system.
We believe in our ideas more when they are tested and validated. This makes them viable and proves to us and everyone, that they are reliable and trustworthy.
Feature tests increases our confidence in the project. It asserts that the project can actually work. It validates our expectations on the product idea. These tests are practical evidence that the product can deliver on its promises.
This validation aligns expectations with reality, ensuring that the development team, stakeholders, and customers are confident in the product’s potential.
The value of early testing is the foundation to some of the best design and development principles in engineering.
In software engineering, Test-Driven Development (TDD) promotes creating tests before writing code. At first, this principle may seem counterintuitive. But, TDD ensures that the software’s performance aligns with expectations.
- This is how I explain TDD to myself: If I focus on defining the desired behavior through tests, then, I can focus on implementing the functionality to pass those tests in development.
Beyond software development, early testing is also championed in manufacturing by industry leaders like Elon Musk. Musk emphasizes the value of in-process testing, particularly when setting up a production line. By catching issues early, engineers can debug and optimize the manufacturing process, ensuring efficient and reliable production.
Elon asserts that “you just really wanna move things pretty much, almost always to just test at the end line, and that’s it. Maybe there’s like one or two in-process steps that are hard to test an end of line, but basically remove almost everything.”
If we test early, we have a chance to validate our expectations early. We catch flaws and correct them before they become problems. The upside is that we don’t end up spending a lot of time and resources without knowing for sure, if our ideas will work.
Testing validates our expectations, raising our confidence in our actions, and creating irrefutable proof that our ideas work.
So, the next time you have an idea that will shake-up the industry, or a product that will change the world, ensure you start testing at the beginning.
Early Testing is not about bug-free software; it is building a solid foundation for a successful product.
That’s it for now. I’ll catch you on the next one.
Cheers.
I am Francis Njuguna. My goal is to deconstruct complex topics into simple bit-size content. I help everyday people deeply connect with topics that are mostly considered difficult. Everybody can understand anything if it is explained well. Beyond writing, I enjoy writing software and web applications for businesses. From websites and landing pages, to e-commerce sytems and automation scripts, there is always something we can do together. Check out my projects on GitHub or send me an email at francis.kanothe@gmail.com.