Issue 274

COMMENT

Welcome to the 274th issue!

What is software testing really about?

There've been a lot of thoughts shared on this topic, but this recent article stood out to me:

A complete philosophy of software testing in under 50 words.

I liked how Paul Martin found a pragmatic way to describe it.

Enjoy and happy testing! 🙂

NEWS

Day 0 as a QA Engineer in a Company That Never Had One

Wondering what challenges await the first tester in a company? Marina Jordão shares her experience and advises what to do.

And importantly, Ahmed El-Deeb outlines Why Your Team Structure Is Killing Quality and Silencing QA.

From Quality Assurance to Quality Advocate

A great piece by Kelly Chin on the evolving roles of testers and the importance of coaching team members and embedding QA early.

Similarly, Niraj Subedi explains why QA Is Not Just a Role — It's a Responsibility.

How to get unstuck: A guide for testers or anyone else who feels stumped

There's a lot of context switching in our jobs. Sometimes it can be overwhelming and we get stuck. Here's some great advice from Ady Stokes on how to overcome that.

Test Planning — What Makes A Good Plan?

"If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail." — goes the saying. Gil Zilberfeld has some good hints on how to plan testing well.

Also, it's important to practice Risk-Based Testing: When Time is Tight, Test Smart, as Sinem Merve Ozdemir points out.

The AI 4-Shot Testing Flow

This is a very interesting post by Jason Arbon on how AI-assisted hybrid testing can help software engineering teams become more efficient.

Also, Mark Winteringham wrote a brilliant article on When not to use AI.

AUTOMATION

Are You Over-Engineering Your Tests?

Test automation can make testing more efficient, but it can also backfire when not done correctly. Kristin Jackvony describes a few reasons for this.

In that context, Jeff Thoensen shares several practical Lessons from My Automation Journey.

Flaky Tests: When Perfection Becomes the Enemy of Progress

How do you solve test flakiness at scale? Omar Chouikh gives an overview of an intriguing approach to detecting common flakiness issues, initially presented by Maxime Clément from Docker.

Refactor or Rewrite? Making the Right Call in Test Automation

When working on legacy test automation projects, you may face a dilemma — should I improve or replace it? Krishna Chaitanya points out what to consider when making that decision.

Similarly, Hannah G. Anulur has some good tips on How to Reduce Refactoring in Test Automation.

Vibe coding web frontend tests — from mocked to actual tests

How accurate is AI at testing web apps by itself? This is an interesting series of articles by Heemeng Foo exploring its limitations and possibilities.

TOOLS

Centralized Playwright API Logs with Grafana Loki

If you want to get more insights from your Playwright API tests, Indra Aristya shows how to build a logging system with Grafana Loki.

Furthermore, James Kip gives a tip on addressing some flaky tests by Waiting on GraphQL: Reliable Handling of In-Flight Requests in Playwright.

Modern Test Automation with AI and Playwright MCP

In this detailed overview, Kailash Pathak demonstrates how to effectively use AI and Playwright MCP server to write tests for web apps.

Similarly, Andrey Enin shares his efforts with Generative Automation Testing with Playwright MCP Server.

Orderly Ape — an open-source tool to run k6 load tests across multiple Kubernetes clusters

Using k6 for load testing? You may like this open-source solution by Kevin Ohashi to orchestrate and run them on several clusters.

Proven Best Practices for Building Reliable APIs with REST Assured

REST Assured is a popular tool for testing APIs in Java. Nitika Singh shares a few tips on how to use it effectively, followed by Java Best Practices for Test Automation.

Setting Up MCP Server with Playwright: A Complete Integration Guide

In a series of articles, Peyman Iravani demonstrates building an AI-powered test automation solution with a custom MCP implementation for Playwright, self-healing logic, test reports and support for AI, DB and UI testing. You can find the repository here: Falcon-Automation.

VIDEOS

What Are We Thinking in the Age of AI? And are we still thinking like testers?

This is an insightful overview from Michael Bolton on the impact of AI on testing with advice on when and when not to use it.

When it is time to move on to a new job in QA

In this 11-minute recording, Alex Khvastovich gives career progression advice for testers based on personal reflection.

AND...

Gen Z bug reports... 😂

Thanks for reading!

If you like this newsletter and it helps you become a better tester, you can say thanks and buy me a coffee.

Issue 274 June 11th 2025