Expert knowledge for digital decisions
Why Does Software Need Automated Testing?
Short answer
The Problem Without Tests
Software consists of many interconnected parts. A change in one area can destroy something completely different. Without tests, this either becomes apparent during manual testing – which takes time – or in production.
Over time, this leads to a system that no one wants to change anymore. This is more expensive than any testing effort.
The Costs and Benefits of Testing
Automated tests noticeably increase the effort during the build process. They reduce the effort for every subsequent change – and software is changed much more frequently over its lifetime than it is built.
For an application that is expected to run for two years, this almost always pays off.
What Should Be Tested
Not everything. A sensible selection includes:
- The processes that are used daily
- Anything related to money or deadlines
- Rights and access restrictions
- Any error that has occurred once – to ensure it does not happen again
What You Will Notice
Directly, nothing. Indirectly: Changes happen faster, errors in existing functionality become less frequent, and switching service providers is possible because the new person can trace whether they broke something.
Therefore, the question of testing is also a question of your independence.
Key facts
- Benefit
- Every subsequent change becomes cheaper and safer
- What to Test
- Daily processes, money, deadlines, rights, old errors