Automated tests are like laws

Every society relies on laws to maintain order, protect its citizens, and promote a thriving community. While laws aim to guide behavior for society’s benefit, their impact depends on how well they balance restriction with freedom. Too lax, and society risks chaos; too rigid, and it stifles progress. This balance, surprisingly, has a lot to teach us about automated testing. Just as laws shape behavior and maintain societal function, well-crafted automated tests guide software to function predictably, adapting to new demands while avoiding rigidity. Let’s explore the parallels that can help software teams build adaptable, robust applications.

Balancing Regulation with Freedom

The purpose of laws isn’t to micromanage every detail of individual behavior but to focus on essential principles that protect societal interests. Laws draw boundaries that define acceptable and unacceptable actions, serving as both a deterrent and a guide. When constructed well, they discourage harmful behaviors without limiting creativity or overwhelming individuals with unnecessary rules.

Lawmakers must regularly reassess these boundaries. Overly loose laws allow damaging loopholes, where harmful activities go unchecked simply because they aren’t explicitly prohibited. At the other extreme, overly rigid laws that attempt to cover every scenario stifle progress, increase governmental burden, and may lead to frustration and non-compliance among citizens.

A useful example of balanced regulation is Estonia’s Riigi Teataja, the centralized legal publication that offers citizens a transparent, updated source of current laws. By giving citizens clear guidance on their rights and obligations, the system allows for fair enforcement and flexibility where it’s most needed. This transparency benefits both the citizens and the governing bodies, balancing structure with freedom.

Prioritizing Core Values and Enabling Innovation

Given the risks of both over- and under-regulation, an effective legal system focuses on protecting core societal values, such as public safety, fairness, and human rights, without micromanaging every detail. This approach offers structure to safeguard society while leaving room for creative solutions that may not follow a strict formula but still align with society’s goals.

Moreover, laws should provide a foundation that supports innovation. Creative individuals, companies, and communities push boundaries to explore new ways of solving problems. Laws should therefore act as guiding principles that establish ethical baselines, not as exhaustive restrictions that penalize beneficial or harmless actions.

Applying These Principles to Automated Testing

Like laws that shape and safeguard society, automated tests set expectations for how software should behave under different conditions. A well-designed test suite clearly defines permissible actions, helping developers avoid errors and ensuring the software’s quality. But, just as with laws, tests need to strike a balance to be truly effective.

1. Avoiding Under-Regulation in Testing:

When a test suite is too loose, critical edge cases and complex scenarios go untested- similar to having laws with loopholes that allow harmful behaviors to slip through unpunished. A limited or overly simplistic test suite may miss crucial bugs, allowing them to reach production, much like lax laws allow unethical practices to go unchecked. For instance, if user input errors aren’t thoroughly tested, they could lead to vulnerabilities that impact the user experience.

2. Steering Clear of Over-Regulation:

Tests that cover every minor implementation detail can create an inflexible framework that stifles development. When tests are too rigid, they become brittle, breaking with every minor change or refactor. This adds unnecessary maintenance, slowing down releases- similar to how over-regulation in society leads to inefficiencies. For example, requiring a test for each minor UI update may create an unsustainable workload without adding meaningful value.

3. The Illusion of Complete Coverage:

A comprehensive legal code might give the illusion of complete security, but no list of rules can cover every scenario. Likewise, a high-coverage test suite isn’t foolproof if it’s not thoughtfully designed. High volume doesn’t equal high quality- critical scenarios can still go untested. Just as societal safety isn’t guaranteed by an exhaustive list of laws, software quality relies on the strategic selection of meaningful tests, not just quantity.

4. Directing Tests Toward Core Functionality:

Like laws that focus on core values, automated tests should prioritize the core functionality of the software. Instead of testing every minor detail, tests should validate the essential outcomes that truly matter to users. This results in a balanced, efficient test suite that captures the most important behaviors without overwhelming developers, allowing them to focus on what matters.

5. Allowing Room for Innovation:

Tests should be flexible enough to allow developers to refactor or experiment with new solutions as long as they stay within acceptable boundaries. This flexibility is the testing equivalent of laws that maintain order without stifling creativity. Developers should be able to try innovative approaches without tests failing due to inconsequential changes. For instance, refactoring code to improve performance shouldn’t trigger irrelevant test failures if it doesn’t impact core functionality.

Creating a "Single Source of Truth" for Testing

Estonia’s Riigi Teataja serves as a transparent, centralized repository of current laws, offering clear guidance to both citizens and government officials. Similarly, testing frameworks like Gherkin can create a structured, human-readable way to document software expectations. Writing tests in a clear, intuitive format, much like well-structured legal code, helps developers understand the purpose and intent behind each test case.

Using descriptive test and method names can act as a guide for newcomers, clarifying what is and isn’t permitted in the code. It also helps teams quickly spot over-regulation or missing critical behaviors. Establishing this single source of truth encourages consistency and clarity in code, just as a centralized legal repository does for society.

Finding the Right Balance

Just as effective laws balance regulation and freedom to benefit society, automated tests should strike a balance between structure and flexibility. When crafted thoughtfully, tests promote high-quality code without overwhelming developers with unnecessary rules. Like laws, tests should focus on what truly matters, guiding software development toward outcomes that benefit users while leaving room for innovation and growth.

Ultimately, both laws and automated tests exist to create reliable, functional systems- whether that’s a thriving society or a successful application. By drawing on the principles of effective lawmaking, software teams can build test suites that foster both stability and progress, resulting in software that serves its users well without hindering the creativity of its creators.