Modern Testing Principles created by Alan Page and Brent Jensen are the natural evolution of the Agile Tester. With these seven principles of Modern Testing, testers can start moving from being the owners of quality to being the ambassadors of shippable quality, delivering value, and improving the quality culture of the team
Modern Testing Principles
20th May 2026
We’ve said many times that the principles aren’t that modern, and aren’t about testing. These evolved during our discussions on how we were seeing (and still see) people who were testers in the early days of Agile and rapid releases provide value to their teams in new ways. In many ways, these are delivery principles, but we’re not going to change the name.
MT Principles 2.0
- Our priority is improving the business.
- We use models like Lean Thinking and the Theory of Constraints to help identify, prioritize and mitigate bottlenecks from the system.
- We are a force for continuous improvement, and adapt and optimize our practices in order to succeed, rather than using safety nets to catch our failures.
- We care deeply about the quality culture of our team, and we coach, lead, and nurture our team towards a more mature quality culture.
- We believe that the customer is the only one capable to judge and evaluate the quality of our product
- We use data extensively to deeply understand customer usage and then close the gaps between product hypotheses and business impact.
- We expand abilities and knowhow across the team; understanding that this may reduce (or eliminate) the need for dedicated specialists.
Source:
https://moderntesting.org/
20th May 2026
A set of seven guiding principles created by the AB Testing podcast hosts, including the idea that only the customer or end user can judge the quality of a product. Used as an alternative framing to traditional testing principles.
20th May 2026
How are teams like yours balancing speed, quality, security, and AI in 2026? Download your copy and get real insights.
Explore MoT
See where AI genuinely helps, where it doesn’t, and how testers can stay firmly in control
Learn with me about what Accessibility is, why it's important to test for and how to get your team started with an Accessibility testing mindset
Into the MoTaverse is a podcast by Ministry of Testing, hosted by Rosie Sherry, exploring the people, insights, and systems shaping quality in modern software teams.
