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Discussion on: How do you measure and discuss the less measurable things about testing code?

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Kate Falanga • Edited

I know answering a question with a question is bad form but I've found the world of testing has a lot of different meanings for the same word. So the first step I take is to level set to make sure we're all on the same page.

What do you mean by "test coverage"? Do you mean unit testing or automated functional checks or "manual" testing? If manual testing do you mean using step by step test cases or exploratory testing based on user stories?

What does "Test Coverage" include? What actionable feedback does it give as a metric? Are you measuring test coverage just because you always have or does it have actual business value?

The testing world is shifting and evolving along with the development world. What was once standard practice is found to be no longer valuable when you take a critical look at it. Test coverage is one of those metrics that seem useful but is usually a waste of time.

(edit - word clean up)