RE: https://mastodon.social/@tdpauw/116392584939788699

Thierry pulls no punches, as usual.

Published: Don’t Let AI Invert The Testing Pyramid

Lately, I encountered a specific article titled "Quality Engineering with AI". I have seen it shared with a dangerous level of enthusiasm within organisations.

To the untrained eye, the article appears to validate a so-called "modern" testing strategy; to anyone who understands software economics and the mechanics of software delivery, it is plain disconcerting.

https://thinkinglabs.io/articles/2026/04/12/dont-let-ai-invert-the-testing-pyramid.html

I got a dm from someone who joined one of my open enrollment workshops in DC in the 00’s and then brought me in to work with his teams as he worked on different things. Anyhoo, he saw my 2008 Conway’s Law blog post quoted in a meeting the other day, and reached out to tell me :)

Thank you to @tdpauw and @matthewskelton and others for bringing my um “colorful” paraphrases and implications of Conway’s Law to more folk <smiles>

There is an art (and a science) to numerical precision that seems lost in software, writing and conversation. The trick to appropriate precision is understanding accuracy. This all falls under the banner of numeracy.

For example, I just received a confirmation of a cinema booking that gave the time of the film in HH:MM:SS format. The site lists programme times in HH:MM. They normally start trailers within a few minutes of the advertised time. To list seconds is an innumerate and false promise.