Updated Paid Plans and new TDD Academy Plan
Important announcement for premium members. Existing paid plans have been updated and I'm also launching the new TDD Academy Plan.
👋 Hello, this is Valentina with the free edition of the Optivem Journal. I help Engineering Leaders & Senior Software Developers apply TDD in Legacy Code.
My reflections
Based on messages I’ve received, I thought about how I can increase the value that I offer to my premium subscribers. For example, I received various technical questions about acceptance tests, integration tests, unit tests, how to convince management/teams about TDD, how to handle challenging colleagues, how to bring TDD mindset to teams, etc. Some readers were also interested in topics beyond TDD, like Hexagonal Architecture, Clean Architecture.
I couldn’t handle these diverse topics with my current fixed publishing schedule. That’s why I won’t longer be sticking to my fixed publishing schedule - instead, I want to be more responsive to your needs.
What this means for premium members:
I’ll continue writing the TDD Course, but not at a fixed publishing schedule
I’ll plan to add new stuff that has high interest for my readers:
Webinars to complement the articles published in the TDD course, so that we can do live Q&A (similar to what we had done for the Tech Excellence Meetups)
Group calls so that we can have more freestyle discussions (it might be focused on some topic, or might be fully open-ended, we’ll see)
Some additional ideas
Note: The above “new ideas“ are based on feedback I received, as a starter list of new formats I plan to try out with you. Ultimately, I want to see what is most valuable for you. Iterate & adapt.
Updated Paid Plans
The following are changes for premium members (refers to paid plans - annual/monthly plans, paid gifts, group subscriptions):
Changes to Publishing Schedule:
Previous: fixed schedule (one paid article weekly)
Updated: no fixed publishing schedule
Changes to Format Types:
Previous: the only format type was written articles
Updated: expanding beyond the written articles, so that we may include webinars and/or group calls, etc.
Changes to TDD Sandbox Project Review:
Previous: I provided review & feedback for your TDD Sandbox Project to premium members
Updated: existing premium members will continue to receive my review & feedback for their TDD Sandbox Project; this will remain valid for existing premium members until Jan 31st 2026 (next year). After Jan 31st 2026 (next year), premium members will need to upgrade to the TDD Academy plan to continue to get access to TDD Sandbox Project Review.
New Plan: TDD Academy
The new plan that I’m launching is the TDD Academy Membership. The TDD Academy is based on my Technical Coaching, but applied to the Sandbox Project (so that it can be applied to your Real Life Project) and offered in a more scalable & affordable way.
TDD Academy Membership includes:
TDD Sandbox Project Review: Your team will implement the TDD Sandbox Project based on the TDD Course, and I’ll providing review & feedback via Substack comments.
TDD Sandbox Project Reporting: You’ll have access to see your team’s project progress on the Sandbox Project Dashboard.
TDD Academy Membership is available both for companies (teams) & individuals.
Note: For teams working on the Sandbox Project, each team member (Sandbox Project contributor) will need to have a TDD Academy Membership to receive my TDD Sandbox Project Review.
News: 09-Sep-2025: I’m launching a new program as a more upgraded version of TDD Academy. So currently this plan is disabled, but I’ll let you know when the new program is available.
To my free members
To celebrate the launch of the TDD Academy, I’m offering a reduced price for the next 2 weeks, valid until 7th Feb 2025. What this means for you:
If you’re a individual, consider upgrading to the TDD Academy Plan, to get the reduced pricing, which is valid until 7th Feb 2025
If you’re an Engineering Leader interested in the TDD Academy for your teams, please book a call (or send me a message) before 7th Feb 2025, to be eligible for the reduced pricing.
To my premium members
Thanks everyone for your support. 🏆
You’ll receive a separate email regarding the next steps for existing Premium Members (both about your updated paid plan and the possibility of upgrading to the TDD Academy Plan at reduced prices until 7th Feb 2025).
You should receive this email with the next steps later today.
Want to apply TDD in practice?
You tried TDD, but it didn’t work. That's why I'm going to help you practice TDD step-by-step. Apply TDD on a sandbox project. Access TDD in Legacy Code.
So excited about the upcoming live webinars and TDD Academy!
Live webinars and TDD Academy is coming :)