A Testing Strategy That Actually Ships Features

High test coverage does not guarantee that important user journeys or failure cases are covered.

Coverage percentage alone does not show whether tests catch the failures that matter to your product.

A better strategy:

1. **Test user journeys as well as code paths** "User creates account, sets up profile, makes first payment" — an end-to-end test can exercise how the parts work together. Keep focused unit tests for business rules too.

2. **Use UI tests where they add confidence** End-to-end tests can be slower to maintain than unit tests, so prioritize critical flows such as login and payment. Combine automation with exploratory and manual testing where appropriate.

3. **Unit test domain logic, not components** Choose tests based on risk and behavior: cover business rules such as discount calculations and permission checks, and avoid tests that only duplicate implementation details.

4. **Ship fast, monitor closely** Some bugs only appear under real traffic patterns. Where your infrastructure supports it, use feature flags or a staged rollout, monitor errors, and expand exposure when the release is stable.

**Use coverage as a diagnostic, not a target:** Coverage can show which code has not been exercised, but it does not measure whether tests assert the right outcomes. Prioritize critical business rules, user journeys, and failure cases; choose the right balance of automated and manual testing for your product.

Quality isn't about perfect tests. It's about strategic tests that protect what matters.

Test strategically. Ship fast. Monitor closely. Iterate.