Note: Cross posted from The Typemock Insider Blog.

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I like this one. I usually hear it in a much larger organizational context, but hey one developer is a micro-cosmos of the entire org, right?

Alk talks about the cost saving of writing a test in terms of just running and debugging an app for a bug. We always talk about how writing tests impacts development now, but saves so much during the entire lifecycle of the application. But, writing a unit test to fix a bug is the one case where the developer sees in his own eyes how much time gets wasted when he’s debugging. It’s time saved for him, not for “everyone”.

When developers see they don’t need the entire app just to tests a single method, it’s one of those “Aha” moments we all love. If you want to convince a developer that unit testing can help him, not only the entire project, show him how a writing a simple test can save him a lot of quality time with the debugger. And then say: “Oh this little tool? It’s called Typemock Isolator. Saves me hours, and it can help you do that too”.