We tend to contrast automated and manual testing, but really, they should support each other. The key is to define what our testing objectives are, then build the solution needed to achieve them—probably a combination of manual and automated testing. We should not let the method become more important than the results.

There's a recent trend in having generalists on the software team—there are no developers or testers, only "team members." The idea of the two roles learning from each other is a good one, but it's usually a one-way street: Testers learn to write production code or test tooling, but no one focuses on deep testing.

We use test design techniques to answer the questions “What do I need to test?” and “What tests should I perform?” We try to ensure test coverage during test automation too, except that choosing poorly creates slower builds and unreliable information about product quality. Here are some guidelines for test selection.