Are you measuring your success purely by data on a dashboard, or by the actual value you're creating in the world?
11 May 2026
Initially, the "emergency anxiety" kicked in. Once I realized I was with family who were perfectly reachable, that faded—only to be replaced by a new frustration: I couldn't track my steps.
But as the afternoon went on, I had a realisation. The steps happened whether my phone recorded them or not. Seeing a digital star on a screen doesn't define my success, and it certainly doesn't define my value.
Success in QE isn't just about a 100% pass rate in a CI pipeline; it’s about the confidence the team has to deploy (see my colleagues recent post on the Code & Wild blog for more on this). https://medium.com/code-wild/from-cy-visit-to-mentor-scaling-e2e-testing-f57d5d96ddb7
Success in QE isn't just about hitting a sprint goal; it’s the positive impact the code has on the human beings using it.
As a Lead Test Engineer, with 15 years experience, Deborah specialises in quality engineering, risk management, and scaling test strategies.
Over the years, she has spearheaded quality operations for major international expansions, including multi-region deployments and scaled QE to support expanding product domains. Most recently, she's focused on driving shift-left quality practices and automation.
She is deeply passionate about fostering a quality-first culture that balances speed with stability. Her approach centres on pragmatic automation - leveraging tools like Cypress where they add maximum ROI, paired with targeted exploratory testing to safeguard complex user journeys.
She also has a passion for accessibility testing and has written a course on the topic https://www.ministryoftesting.com/courses/introduction-to-accessibility-testing?s_id=19046932
