Test design

Test design is a mechanism that we use to ensure that what we're looking at is actually useful for people. 

It is a way of cutting down what we might explore or test for to ensure that our tests are really useful to people. And that's not just in terms of, exploration. That can be in terms of our automation as well.

Test design is both a creative and scientific process for determining what and how to test.

The what is about making it something that's going to be useful information that's going to actually help someone in at the end of the day.

For me, the how plays a big part in that as well because I've seen that happen where someone maybe thinks that they're testing a certain thing, but the how that they're doing it actually is testing something else.

The how is important as well.

The purpose of our test design is to help people understand what it is we're covering, what it is we're testing, and what is it they're going to find out about the system from our testing. Because we want to share that information, that useful information, to help the team understand the quality of what's being built. 

And the whole reason we design our tests in the first place, it's not necessarily for us. It's to share that with the rest of our team so they can help go, oh, have you thought about this? Or, hey, maybe this isn't a priority for us right now. So that's the key thing to think about there.