2.a. Add Commit Stage with Smoke Test Placeholders
2.b. Write Smoke Tests
3.a. Update Commit Stage by adding E2E Test Placeholders after Smoke Tests
3.b. Write E2E Tests (write just subset based on highest-priority Manual E2E Tests)
4.a. Update Commit Stage by adding Acceptance Test Placeholders (so we'll run Smoke Tests, Acceptance Tests, E2E Tests)
4.b. Convert the E2E Tests into Acceptance Tests (leave just a few E2E Tests)
5.a. Update Commit Stage by adding External System Contract Test Placeholders (so we'll run Smoke Tests, Acceptance Tests, External System Contract Tests targeting External System Stubs, External System Contract Tests targeting External System Test Instances, E2E Tests)
5.b. Write the External System Contract Tests associated with the E2E Tests above
How do you move from just having a pipeline to actually practicing daily continuous integration?
1. Pipeline with Commit Stage & Release Stage (QA & PROD)
2.a. Add Commit Stage with Smoke Test Placeholders
2.b. Write Smoke Tests
3.a. Update Commit Stage by adding E2E Test Placeholders after Smoke Tests
3.b. Write E2E Tests (write just subset based on highest-priority Manual E2E Tests)
4.a. Update Commit Stage by adding Acceptance Test Placeholders (so we'll run Smoke Tests, Acceptance Tests, E2E Tests)
4.b. Convert the E2E Tests into Acceptance Tests (leave just a few E2E Tests)
5.a. Update Commit Stage by adding External System Contract Test Placeholders (so we'll run Smoke Tests, Acceptance Tests, External System Contract Tests targeting External System Stubs, External System Contract Tests targeting External System Test Instances, E2E Tests)
5.b. Write the External System Contract Tests associated with the E2E Tests above
6. Start practicing ATDD (this is a big topic)
7. Introduce Component Tests & start practicing CTDD
8. Introduce Hexagonal Architecture, Unit Tests & start practicing TDD
P.S. Regarding 6, 7, 8 I can go into more details if anyone requests further info.