Re: [extremeprogramming] What has changed for you over the past 20 years?

My experience is the same as Mike’s.

I wrote about it: https://www.jamesshore.com/Blog/Dont-Measure-Unit-Test-Code-Coverage.html <https://www.jamesshore.com/Blog/Dont-Measure-Unit-Test-Code-Coverage.html>

James

--
James Shore - The Art of Agile

voice: +1 503-267-5490
blog: http://jamesshore.com

> On Dec 5, 2019, at 9:05 AM, Mike Bowler <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> We rapidly get a collection of tests that increase code coverage without testing any actual behaviour. I’ve seen whole test setups with few or no assertions.  This is then worse than having low test coverage because we can’t trust any of it.
> 
> Then when the team is in the habit of writing garbage tests, that starts to leak into their production code and quality starts dropping there too. They care less about the quality. I expect this is some variant of Social Proof or the Broken Window Effect.
> 
> I can’t think of a single case where imposing a high code coverage number on checkin,  up front, has resulted in the team writing better code and I can think of many cases where the reverse is true.
> 
> Now, the one case that I have seen work is where the team starts a mandatory code coverage based on where they are today and very gradually increases the mandatory amount over time to slowly improve. Although even that causes problems when new people are brought onto the team or new teams take over that code base.
> 
> Mike Bowler
> Agile & Technical, Coach and Trainer
> Cell: 905 409-7052 <tel:905%20409-7052>www.GargoyleSoftware.com/mike_bowler <http://www.gargoylesoftware.com/mike_bowler>
> www.UnconsciousAgile.com <http://www.unconsciousagile.com/>
> 
> Ask about our Certified Scrum Developer (CSD) training classes <http://www.gargoylesoftware.com/training/csd>. In-house and public classes available.
> 
>> On Dec 4, 2019, at 4:51 PM, John Maxwell <[email protected]> wrote:
>> 
>> On 12/04/2019 04:47:58 PM, Mike Bowler wrote:
>>>> Yep. TDD is a holly grail. Just having a policy not to check in any
>>> code without 100% unit test coverage does wonders to quality.
>>> 
>>> I can’t tell if you meant that as sarcasm. I’ve seen that policy put
>>> in place and the “quality” that results. I expect many of us here have
>>> seen that disaster.
>>> 
>> I haven't. What's the failure mechanism?
>> 
>> --
>> John Maxwell  KB3VLL  [email protected]
>> 
>> "Personally I'm fond of using Dedekind cuts for representing the Reals,
>> but it gets cumbersome to use when balancing one's checkbook."
>>        -Charles Haynes
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 


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