As the business expands, the complexity of applications can grow exponentially. New systems continue to be built and integrated. This is why it’s crucial to establish automated testing procedures while your company and applications are still small. Automated testing can ensure your applications continue to function properly as they grow and evolve, saving you time and resources in the long run.
The sooner the test suite is established the easier tests are to write and the more value they will bring. Writing tests on a legacy app is more difficult than writing tests on a fresh project.
Automated testing can never 100% replace an actual user but it can get close enough to deploy confidently every time.
Of course, there is always the aspect of it depends. If the app is temporary or won’t go to production then sure skip tests. If you’re in an enterprise environment then most likely tests are a good idea.
The goal isn’t necessarily to get 100% test coverage. The goal is to cover your use cases.
Here’s how Stripe does testing. This blog post was inspired by this tweet that included the following image.
Can you imagine if Stripe had to go in afterward and write tests?
Take a little time to establish your standards and procedures at the beginning of your project it will pay dividends in the future.
Happy testing!
