Testing your own software as a developer: don't ignore your blind spots

Developers are not testers: the difference in mindset

As a developer, you know exactly how code works. And that's ... the problem. Namely, you test with the assumptions you made while building. You know what it would móéten do. But a tester looks at things differently. He thinks: what if it doesn't do what it should?

Where a developer thinks in structure, logic and elegance, a tester thinks in risk’s, exceptions and what-happens-if-I-do-something-stupid here.

The danger of testing your own code

Naturally, unit tests and integration tests are important. They are part of the development process. But those who rely on those alone miss the bigger picture. Think about use cases, edge cases, cross-functional dependencies.... Things you simply don't always see as a developer.

And no — that's not a criticism of developers. Rather, it's a plea vóór focus and collaboration. Testing is a profession. And like any profession, it requires its own way of thinking, its own glasses.

Why TMAP does help

TMAP is not a dusty theory. It's a practical approach that lets you integrate quality throughout the development process. It goes beyond “does-it-do?” and asks: “How do we make sure it keeps doing — in production, under pressure, at scale?”

With TMAP, you learn how to structure testing, assess risk’s and make quality measurable. And that's no luxury in a world where bugs cost money and damage reputation.

3 situations where TMAP makes the difference

New features in an existing codebase

You know the drill: a new feature is added to a codebase that has been tinkered with for years. Everyone hopes nothing breaks— but no one knows for sure. TMAP helps you identify risk ’s in advance, so that you can test in a targeted way where it really is critical. No panic afterwards, but control in advance.

Agile teams with many changing roles

In many Agile teams, ‘everyone is responsible for quality’ but in practice that often means: no one is really. If a tester is available one sprint and not the next, a lot is left undone. TMAP offers a shared framework in which you work on quality as a team, regardless of who is testing at the time. This prevents testing from becoming a blind spot once things get busier.

DevOps environments where releases follow each other quickly

When you're in a CI/CD environment and features go live multiple times a day, you can't afford to test at random. TMAP helps align test automation én manual quality checks. This keeps your feedback loop short and reliable, even at high release frequency. And more importantly, you prevent ‘fast’ from becoming synonymous with ‘sloppy’.

What you can do now

Do you work as a developer on a team where testing is ‘added’? Then it's time to rethink that role. Testing is not an afterthought. It is a profession. And you can learn that trade at Testlearning. Check out our e-learning TMAP: Quality for cross-functional teams and discover how you as a developer can contribute to écht stable and well-working software.