Skip to main content
Test Double company logo
Services
Services Overview
Holistic software investment consulting
Software Delivery
Accelerate quality software development
Product Strategy & Performance
Level up product strategy & performance
Legacy Modernization
Renovate legacy software systems
Pragmatic AI
Solve business problems without hype
Upgrade Rails
Update Rails versions seamlessly
DevOps
Scale infrastructure smoothly
Technical Recruitment
Build tech & product teams
Technical & Product Assessments
Uncover root causes & improvements
Case Studies
Solutions
Accelerate Quality Software
Software Delivery, DevOps, & Product Delivery
Maximize Software Investments
Product Performance, Product Scaling, & Technical Assessments
Future-Proof Innovative Software
Legacy Modernization, Product Transformation, Upgrade Rails, Technical Recruitment
About
About
What's a test double?
Approach
Meeting you where you are
Founder's Story
The origin of our mission
Culture
Culture & Careers
Double Agents decoded
Great Causes
Great code for great causes
EDI
Equity, diversity & inclusion
Insights
All Insights
Hot takes and tips for all things software
Leadership
Bold opinions and insights for tech leaders
Developer
Essential coding tutorials and tools
Product Manager
Practical advice for real-world challenges
Say Hello
Test Double logo
Menu
Services
BackGrid of dots icon
Services Overview
Holistic software investment consulting
Software Delivery
Accelerate quality software development
Product Strategy & Performance
Level up product strategy & performance
Legacy Modernization
Renovate legacy software systems
Pragmatic AI
Solve business problems without hype
Cycle icon
DevOps
Scale infrastructure smoothly
Upgrade Rails
Update Rails versions seamlessly
Technical Recruitment
Build tech & product teams
Technical & Product Assessments
Uncover root causes & improvements
Case Studies
Solutions
Solutions
Accelerate Quality Software
Software Delivery, DevOps, & Product Delivery
Maximize Software Investments
Product Performance, Product Scaling, & Technical Assessments
Future-Proof Innovative Software
Legacy Modernization, Product Transformation, Upgrade Rails, Technical Recruitment
About
About
About
What's a test double?
Approach
Meeting you where you are
Founder's Story
The origin of our mission
Culture
Culture
Culture & Careers
Double Agents decoded
Great Causes
Great code for great causes
EDI
Equity, diversity & inclusion
Insights
Insights
All Insights
Hot takes and tips for all things software
Leadership
Bold opinions and insights for tech leaders
Developer
Essential coding tutorials and tools
Product Manager
Practical advice for real-world challenges
Say hello
Developers
Developers
Developers
Testing

Breaking up (with) your test suite

By cordoning off each group of tests based on the value we hope to get out of them, we can develop unprecedented clarity in our working relationship with tests.
Justin Searls
|
May 25, 2014
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

In this day and age, we have a thousand ways and reasons to test our code. On it’s face, this is great! But the sword is double-edged: when I open a test that I’m not familiar with, I have to determine why it exists from any of a thousand possible reasons. If I want to add my own tests, I must decide how to implement it from any of a thousand possible methods.

The most immediate abstraction we have for wrangling the motivations and implementations of our tests is the “test suite”. By cordoning off each group of tests based on the value we hope to get out of them, we can develop unprecedented clarity in our working relationship with tests.

This talk is an example of how to do that. Hopefully, it’s at just the level of detail you’ll need to ponder how to apply a similar approach to your teams and applications.

The video above was presented at Ancient City Ruby 2014 on April 3rd, 2014. Its slides are available on SpeakerDeck, as always:

Related Insights

🔗
How to stop hating your tests
🔗
Happier TDD with testdouble.js
🔗
Why TLDR is the Ruby testing framework you need for faster feedback

Explore our insights

See all insights
Leadership
Leadership
Leadership
AI in the workforce: A shifting talent equation

AI is transformative: reshaping the workforce, blurring roles, and breaking career ladders. Explore how orgs can balance people, technology, and business in this new era of work.

by
Jonathon Baugh
Leadership
Leadership
Leadership
The anvil of alignment: The value of monoliths over microservices

Before dismantling your monolith for microservices, understand its crucial role in organizational alignment. We explore hidden costs, Conway's Law, and strategic insights for leaders making architectural decisions.

by
Dave Mosher
by
Joel Helbling
by
Steve Jackson
by
Patrick Brown
by
Jonathon Baugh
Developers
Developers
Developers
Build common (virtual) ground with unstructured remote calls

Taking remote work to new levels takes new techniques. Explore how unstructured remote calls can help build trust.

by
Tyler Sloane
Letter art spelling out NEAT

Join the conversation

Technology is a means to an end: answers to very human questions. That’s why we created a community for developers and product managers.

Explore the community
Test Double Executive Leadership Team

Learn about our team

Like what we have to say about building great software and great teams?

Get to know us
Test Double company logo
Improving the way the world builds software.
What we do
Services OverviewSoftware DeliveryProduct StrategyLegacy ModernizationPragmatic AIDevOpsUpgrade RailsTechnical RecruitmentAssessments
Who WE ARE
About UsCulture & CareersGreat CausesEDIOur TeamContact UsNews & AwardsN.E.A.T.
Resources
Case StudiesAll InsightsLeadership InsightsDeveloper InsightsProduct InsightsPairing & Office Hours
NEWSLETTER
Sign up hear about our latest innovations.
Your email has been added!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Standard Ruby badge
614.349.4279hello@testdouble.com
Privacy Policy
© 2020 Test Double. All Rights Reserved.