What strategies have you used to make your test suites more reliable and maintainable?

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Check out my article " Testing software smarter, not harder: the shift-down strategy" that was published on the MoT site today!

You’ll find out about shift-down testing, which introduces a fresh perspective on test automation strategy that goes beyond the shift-left approach.

What you’ll learn:

  • Why testing closer to the code creates more reliable and maintainable test suites
  • Practical examples comparing traditional UI-heavy testing with shift-down approaches
  • Techniques for implementing layered automation across different testing levels
  • Strategies for finding the right balance in your test automation pyramid

The article includes real-world code examples showing how to:

  • Transform brittle UI tests into robust direct tests
  • Implement effective unit, component, and integration tests
  • Structure your test automation layers for maximum efficiency
  • Measure the effectiveness of your shift-down testing approach

After reading, share your thoughts:

  • What’s your current balance between UI and lower-level tests?
  • Have you experienced maintenance challenges with UI-heavy test suites?
  • What strategies have you used to make your test suites more reliable and maintainable?
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It would be great if you could link and reference the original articles from 2023 about shift down testing from google, devops teams etc. It could really help people see the historical views and where you got your inspiration from.

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One of the strategies for maintaining the test suite’s reliability is continuous review. In agile where changes are possible at any instant it is important to modify our test cases accordingly and for that continuous feedback is important because it might be possible that the new change that is incorporated might bring some change in locators which may break the automation script or it might also impact the user flow, so that’s one of the ways we can make the test suite more reliable.
Another option is a traceability matrix, through which we can map each test case with user stories and ensure that our test suites are reliable enough to cover all the user stories.