Feeding the Test Case addiction.

On Twitter there was a nice discussion regarding test cases. 

In those Tweets was a link to a blog named:
https://www.developsense.com/blog/2019/01/breaking-the-test-case-addiction-part-1/
There are educational sections in that blog, for instance the section with the list...
Try putting the tester in front of

There are also parts in the blog that I personally disagree with. For instance the line ;
 they want to provide traceability

That is actually in my opinion NOT what they want. What they want is their business to continue. In order for that they have to satisfy in some cases particular laws and rules in the software (security related or whatever). That is not the hard or complex part to understand.

The hard part to understand is, that the software started somewhere in time with a couple of lines of code, everything was clear and small and could be tested in 7 days or less. During that time the company was small and they didn't have to meet those laws and rules. They tested it because they wanted so, but not for any other reason.
The testers and developers from those days are long gone. 

However, nowadays they have to proof to government related people that the software is safe and according to those requirements. Even more so, they have to handover the testcases and show what they tested and how they tested.

Now here comes the dilemma, the problem. The day that the testcases have to be handed over to the government related officials is in 15 days from now.
There is 0% documentation. There are 10 requirements that have to mee the laws and regulations.
Getting the test environment in the appropriate pre-condition to check 1 requirement costs 3 days. If steps could be read. But test steps can't be read because nobody documented. So... we need someone from the business to do the magic and get the database values in the right settings so the testing can start. But the thing is, that takes 2 extra days longer. 

You can't progress fast, because you have to learn everything yourself. No other tester no other developer described how they did the testing in earlier stages.

This is not uncommon. This happens at far too many places.

So the blog says 'break the test case addiction' but I think in some cases... you actually do need test steps from earlier runs. If that results in getting the checks done faster and the smoke through the chimney.

If you would have endless time, no pressure, no deadlines, all the time of the world yeah maybe just maybe then you could figure out everything yourself and would be able to check al those 10 requirements (but probably still  not within 15 days).

​But in many places, you do need that head start. You do need test cases. Specify them, write them down, re-use them!

​