Test Desiderata

A third take on Kent Beck’s Test Desiderata (2019) and Emily Bache’s 2.0 reorganization (2025). This is a position, not a neutral catalog: it keeps what the field independently converged on, renames where a rename is an improvement, and drops what quietly took sides. The reasoning lives in the position essay.

Ten properties: Fast · Run in Any Order · Readable · Deterministic · Diagnosable · Behavioral · Structure-Insensitive · Automated Checks · Writable · Minimal Data.

One macro goal: Predict Success in Production. “Inspiring” is that goal’s outcome, not a property; there is no Inspiring KPI. Dropped: Composable, whose provenance is mockist (Freeman & Pryce, OOPSLA 2004); naming it would take a side this list stays neutral on.

This list covers one dimension of testing: properties. Categories (unit/integration/E2E), mechanics (seams, doubles), suite shapes (pyramid, trophy), and team processes are separate axes the field names elsewhere.