Imagine assembling a car engine without any QC process, perhaps just visual inspection of the parts. The end users (whoever will drive the car) will be the actual testers.
You jest, but I have been in a conversation where I proposed a user experience improvement and heard "but if we change the code, it will no longer be tested. Right now, users have reported bugs and we have fixed all of them."
Because users always report bugs...
If you've ever been frustrated by the package manager Conda and the UX of its command-line interface ...I'm sorry. I tried.
It's a trade off. Sure, the ultimate testing is done by customers, but how fast one can push new fixes without tests? 1 reported bug could break many things.
Welcome to the land of ambiguity and subjectivity - enjoy our stay!
The problem is, that there's no way to generally quantify "too much" or "not enough" when it comes to tests and documentation.
Even "harmful" isn't a well defined term on its own and needs to be properly defined on a case-by-case basis.
The statement is a platitude without any substance behind it and you can replace "testing and documentation" with just about anything and come to the same result:
Vitamines and calorie intake are both essential but too much of either becomes harmful.
afarrell|5 years ago
Because users always report bugs...
If you've ever been frustrated by the package manager Conda and the UX of its command-line interface ...I'm sorry. I tried.
rooam-dev|5 years ago
postalrat|5 years ago
qayxc|5 years ago
The problem is, that there's no way to generally quantify "too much" or "not enough" when it comes to tests and documentation.
Even "harmful" isn't a well defined term on its own and needs to be properly defined on a case-by-case basis.
The statement is a platitude without any substance behind it and you can replace "testing and documentation" with just about anything and come to the same result:
How profound...afarrell|5 years ago
> Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
> Working software over comprehensive documentation
> Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
> Responding to change over following a plan
The things on the right are only useful in service of the things on the left.