Clear Testing Instructions on Pull Requests is the First Level of Quality Engineering

What is Our Long-Term Goal?

We strongly believe in the importance of having high-quality testing instructions in Pull Requests. This will allow us to perform front-load testing earlier in the process (before the PR is merged), and avoid late-breaking issues in the release process.

This move will make the Pull Request stage one of the crucial parts of contributing to WooCommerce Core. This is the stage where we not only look at the code, but also evaluate the functionality and make sure that everything works as expected.

Ultimately, clear testing Instructions on Pull Requests is the first level of quality engineering. The goal is for every developer in the community to play a role in it.

Why Are Testing Instructions Important?

Apart from being a great support for testing new WooCommerce changes actively, acting as the acceptance criteria for new Pull Requests and providing information to the community about new changes, testing instructions offer many other valuable benefits. For example:

• They provide clarity of thought.
• They are a blueprint for automated tests.
• They make your Pull Request actionable for Pull Request reviewers.
• They contribute to building a strong quality culture.

You can read more on the value of testing instructions in this guide.

How to Define Good Testing Instructions?

In order to facilitate the definition of testing instructions and promote good practices, we have created a guide on how to write high-quality testing instructions. The guide is linked in the Pull Request template and also available publicly so that every contributor could get on board with us.