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
I accidentally left my phone at home on Saturday afternoon.
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.
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.
Are you measuring your success purely by data on a dashboard, or by the actual value you're creating in the world?
Deborah Reid
Lead Test Engineer
she/her
Deborah has been testing for about 15 years now. She is currently Lead Test Engineer at Bloom and Wild group. She specialises in exploratory and risk based testing with a passion for accessibility. Deborah has written a course for MoT on an Introduction to Accessibility Testing as well as an article on speaking at a Conference for the first time, spoken at an AMA on Soft Skills and more!
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