From Unit Tests to Acceptance Tests - Why I shifted my focus?
I focused on HA & TDD for years. Why I shifted my focus to ATDD?
🔒Hello, this is Valentina with a premium issue of the Optivem Journal. I help Engineering Leaders & Senior Software Developers apply TDD in Legacy Code. This article is part of the TDD in Legacy Code series.
I’m launching the first cohort of the ATDD Accelerator Program, starting in October 2025. Thank you to everyone who has applied! Enrollment applications for 2025 are now closed, but you can join the waitlist for 2026.
I want to share with you some behind-the-scenes in the making of the ATDD Accelerator Program.
I focused on HA & TDD for years.
So first of all, why did I decide to make the ATDD Accelerator Program?
I was asked this question several years ago, when I was working as a Technical Coach in companies. While helping teams adopt TDD, Hexagonal Architecture, and Clean Code, the same issues kept coming up.
Many teams didn’t have higher-level testing. So that meant, as we introduced those changes, there was a risk of introducing regression bugs. Sometimes, refactoring into Hexagonal Architecture caused regression bugs.
Another challenge was that there weren't adequate, visible outcomes for management. When we introduced unit tests, that part of the code was protected, but there was so much of the other code that wasn’t protected. This meant there was no clear, visible reduction in delivery time or bug fixes.