Our automated test system has discovered bugs, often just before a big release, more times than I’d care to admit. It’s an invaluable tool and one recommended by most modern development methodologies. However, I’m not a fan of methodologies in general. Let me preface that with a little bit of personal history…
Back in 1994, while working for a bank in London, I was asked to come up with a specification standard that could be given to any old ‘monkey’ and would produce reliable results. Management were fed up with the code quality and productivity disparities through-out the development teams.