Issue 309

COMMENT

Welcome to the 309th issue!

Looking for a software testing tool?

Check out TestVerse — a free directory of categorised 190+ testing tools by Anshita Bhasin.

And if you want to learn more about how to use it, she wrote a handy guide.

Happy testing! 🙂

NEWS

AI Is Changing Software Testing. After 20 Years in QA, I Can Tell You This Shift Is Different.

Olga Manuilova reflects on 20 years in QA and explains how the profession is moving from execution toward quality strategy and risk management.

Additionally, Simon Prior shares some fresh thoughts on Intelligent Quality Leadership: A Model Still Taking Shape.

Quality Isn't a Testing Problem

A good reminder from Alan Page that quality lives in the system and it should be built-in, rather than tested-in.

This is followed by a fantastic post from Filip Hric about Maslow's Hammer and Three Lies QA Tells Itself.

Rethinking Your Test Strategy for AI-Powered Features

Testing AI features? Irfan Mujagić shares a test strategy, including a practical framework for deciding what to automate, what to check manually and what to monitor.

You can also follow Emily O'Connor and Richard Adams's advice on Two ways to use the "5 whys" method: Root cause of bugs and identifying continuous improvements.

Testing Is Systems Thinking

A thought-provoking article by Patrick Prill describing how to use the DSRP mental model (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, Perspectives) for better testing.

Moreover, Patrick also explains why AI Cannot Replace Glue Work.

You Climbed the Test Pyramid. Now Eat a Custard Slice.

What if you thought about your test suite by the value each layer provides, not just the technical scope? Stuart Crocker introduces the Custard Slice as an alternative to the Test Pyramid.

At the same time, Shubham Sharma came up with The Testing Lattice — a handy way of assessing your testing maturity.

AUTOMATION

How AI Testing Agents Are Transforming QA at Showpad

Looking for advice on how to embed AI agents into daily QA work? Ganeshan Manickam describes how they built small agents for each testing phase and what they learned from that.

The Chaos Mutant: What if a Bot Tried to Break Your Code Every Night?

Prateek Singh gives an overview of a nightly mutation testing setup that randomly picks recently changed files, injects bugs and shows which ones your tests would miss.

Also, Thulane Khumalo asks and explains: What are semtests?

The 'valuable' in valuable feedback, fast

What makes a good test automation? Bas Dijkstra breaks it down into four angles and shares practical tips, such as keeping the test scope small and using custom assertion messages. Bas also shared My thoughts on 'self-healing' in test automation.

Why Layered Test Framework Architecture Still Matters in the Age of AI

Josphine Job goes through the six layers of a test automation framework and explains why AI doesn't replace them but adds an orchestration layer on top.

Moreover, Mohammad Faisal Khatri shows an example of implementing Builder Pattern + Faker in API Test Automation using Playwright with TypeScript.

You Write Too Many Tests

If you don't have confidence in your integration tests, Chris Tonkinson explains why you should probably have fewer of them and use a Scenario Tree Testing pattern for top-down coverage instead.

Similarly, Oliver Fries describes how I stopped treating testing methodologies as religion and started treating them as tools in the context of TDD and BDD.

TOOLS

Creating a resilient test framework with the Playwright Page Object Model (POM)

If you want to build a test framework that scales, Shawn Vernier shows a Page Object Model setup with examples in Playwright.

A great additional read to that is Aparna Mishra's take on Playwright POM (Without Classes): Make Your Tests Clean & Reusable.

Playprom: Turn your Playwright test run into a time-series data

Want to see your Playwright test results over time? Lutfi Fitroh Hadi built Playprom — a reporter that emits test runs as metrics into Prometheus and Grafana.

Similarly, Vitali Haradkou created a handy solution for Playwright test reports that actually look good in email.

Playwright Accessibility Testing: What axe and Lighthouse Miss

If you're using automated tools for accessibility testing, you may be interested to learn from David Mello which defects scanners can't catch and how to leverage Playwright for better results.

And if you use Cypress, David's also got you covered: Testing A11y Using Cypress And wick-a11y Plugin.

Playwright MCP Vision + DevTools: AI Agents That See the Page AND Read Network Traffic Simultaneously

Do you know about Playwright MCP's capability modes? Pramod Dutta gives an overview of snapshot, vision, and devtools with practical examples of when to use each one and how to combine them.

Moreover, Gurudatt S A tells us Why Your Playwright getByRole Locator Isn't Working — Understanding ARIA and Accessible Names.

UTML: A UI Test Markup Language for Browser Automation

Kulanthaivelu Sankaran proposes UTML, a JSON-based markup language for browser tests, which you can use to describe steps, such as "click Sign in button", and let it handle the rest. You can also read part 2 and part 3.

BOOKS

Reading of The Staff Engineer's Path

This is a thoughtful reflection from Roy Straub after rereading The Staff Engineer's Path now that he's become a Tech Lead and has a different perspective.

VIDEOS

From Developer to Tester: Navigating the Shift in an AI-Driven Testing World

An insightful, 46-minute discussion between David Burns and Benjamin Bischoff about the evolving role of software testers in the AI-powered world.

Similarly, Alan Richardson invited Krisztián Fischer and Toby Sears to talk about AI and Software Testing.

How to identify risks which matter most for testing

Vitaly Sharovatov started a new series of recordings, supported by blog posts, about risks in software testing. This 11-minute recording is followed by another one about How to prioritize risks for testing.

AND...

Codex will review your code... 😂

Thanks for reading!

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Issue 309 April 20th 2026