162: Testing The Right Things

Writing as a way of thinking and how tests can be costly without a sound strategy

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Unrelated: How Writing Can Clarify Your Thoughts and Remove Bias

Writing is a powerful tool that can help clarify your thoughts. When explaining an idea, you'll challenge yourself to consider its various angles and make new connections. Writing can reveal gaps in your understanding, and it's easier to explain something when you have a solid grasp of the topic. Writing is a way to explore differing perspectives, flesh out your ideas, and make potential connections.

Writing isn't just the result of thinking; it's also the medium in which we process our thoughts. If you want to retain information long-term, it's essential to write it down. When trying to understand an idea, you must translate it into your own words. Writing can build up resources for future publications, making note-taking an invaluable practice that has stood the test of time.

Writing is a tool for removing bias and clarifying your thinking. An empty page reflects the state of your mind, which means that writing can help you identify areas where your thinking is unclear. Attention is a valuable resource in today's world, and writing is one way to capture it. By sharing your ideas through writing, you can attract an eager audience to engage with your work.

[^]: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Current Work: Testing The Right Things

Writing a test that fails before writing the actual production code is essential to ensure the system's safety. This helps create a suite of automated tests confirming the system is ready for deployment. Refactoring code is only sometimes necessary. Sometimes, we can take small steps before refactoring. However, having a fast test suite is crucial. It allows us to test many ideas for the same problem quickly. When we want to do something different from the first step in the TDD Mantra, we must start the cycle by beginning at the system's outer edge. This is done through an Acceptance test that describes when the user stops using the product. It's essential to keep the Test-Driven Cycle fast and smooth, especially at the level of the rules that provide value to the business. An Acceptance test doesn't need to describe a user's click in a specific view.

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