# Treat Testing Pain with a Healthy Dose of Test Strategy

DevFeed: [Treat Testing Pain with a Healthy Dose of Test Strategy](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/treat-testing-pain-with-a-healthy-dose-of-test-strategy-20366.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://engineering.ziffmedia.com/treat-testing-pain-with-a-healthy-dose-of-test-strategy-43285deaad95?source=rss----d6bb34696ef5---4>)

Author: Jeff Benton

Published: 2019-10-22T16:12:57Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [RetailMeNot](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/retailmenot.md>)

Topics: [Testing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/testing.md>), [Unit testing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/unit-testing.md>), [test-coverage](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/test-coverage.md>)

Tags: [coverage](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/coverage.md>), [diagnose](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/diagnose.md>), [flaky](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/flaky.md>), [integration](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/integration.md>), [test-coverage](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/test-coverage.md>), [testing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/testing.md>), [unit-testing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/unit-testing.md>)

## AI overview

The article presents test strategy as a low-cost way for engineering teams to diagnose testing problems and create a treatment plan. It discusses missing unit or integration tests, flaky or slow tests, maintainability issues, and test coverage pursued without clear value.

## Source excerpt

We live in a day and age where consumers cannot access medication for their ailment because of cost. We are aware of the anecdotes related to delaying treatment. In the same way, some engineering teams are stuck with projects which are in an unhealthy testing state. The team goes on sprint after sprint with the situation getting worse, not better. In this article, I will introduce a low-cost tool to enable you to diagnose your situation and put together a treatment plan. Testing pain It's a sad situation, but I think we've all been in the place where testing on our project is a pain. "belchonock" © 123RF.com It's a project where no one took the time to set up unit testing. Or the unit test framework exists and no one bothered to add unit tests. There are unit tests, but no integration tests. Or there is no support for the types of integration tests you want to write. The tests are flaky. They take too long. The tests are difficult to maintain or understand. The tests don't provide value and were added to hit a random test coverage number. After all the automated tests pass, you still have this nagging doubt about releasing the latest version to the public. The pain points I have called out above are not exhaustive. We can relate to these pain points, but why don't we fix them? We know ignoring a medical problem is not a good idea. It's not a good idea to ignore your testing pain. But choosing to tackle your testing problems can seem like a daunting task. A tool that I have found helpful to start dealing with my testing pain is to develop a test strategy. "Dejan Bozic" © 123RF.com Develop your Test Strategy A strategy is "A plan of action or policy designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim." (Definition of strategy in English. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/strategy) A test strategy is a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a long-term testing aim. To develop a test strategy, start answering the following questions. What are the testing pain points