> Testing doesn’t really help our customers. At best it helps indirectly, in the same way that HR or payroll or marketing does.
I agree with this, but I think this applies to source code in general, not just tests. Software is different from many other crafts in that there's a strong separation between construct and artifact. The metaphor would be that the house you live in is actually an artifact/result of a different house somewhere else, that you might or might not have access to, and changes to the house you live in requires change to the "source" house. And the source house looks nothing like the actual house. As Rich Hickey puts it, users of your software rarely gets to look at the source code and be satisfied with how pleasant it is (or isn't).
I agree with this, but I think this applies to source code in general, not just tests. Software is different from many other crafts in that there's a strong separation between construct and artifact. The metaphor would be that the house you live in is actually an artifact/result of a different house somewhere else, that you might or might not have access to, and changes to the house you live in requires change to the "source" house. And the source house looks nothing like the actual house. As Rich Hickey puts it, users of your software rarely gets to look at the source code and be satisfied with how pleasant it is (or isn't).