Testing Strategy: Minimal Baseline Example

Experiment: bootstrap-002-test-strategy Baseline Investment: 60 min V_meta(s₀): 0.04 (Poor) Result: 6 iterations (standard convergence)

Activities (60 min)

1. Coverage Measurement (30 min)

go test -cover ./...
# Result: 72.1% coverage, 590 tests

2. Ad-hoc Testing (20 min)

Wrote 3 tests manually, noted duplication issues

3. No Prior Art Research (0 min)

Started from scratch

4. Vague Automation Ideas (10 min)

"Maybe coverage analysis tools..." (not concrete)

V_meta(s₀) Calculation

Completeness: 0/8 = 0.00 (no patterns documented)
Transferability: 0/8 = 0.00 (no research)
Automation: 0/3 = 0.00 (not identified)

V_meta(s₀) = 0.4×0.00 + 0.3×0.00 + 0.3×0.00 = 0.00

Outcome

Iterations: 6 (standard convergence)
Total time: 25.5 hours
Patterns emerged gradually over 6 iterations

What Could Have Been Different

If invested 2 more hours in iteration 0:

Research test patterns (borrow 5-6)
Analyze codebase for test opportunities
Identify coverage tools

Estimated result:

V_meta(s₀) = 0.30-0.40
4-5 iterations (vs 6)
Time saved: 3-6 hours

ROI: 2-3x

Source: Bootstrap-002, minimal baseline approach

1.3 KiB Raw Blame History Unescape Escape