Why Testing Always Deserves Priority

Testing Ends Up at the Back

Anyone who’s ever worked on an IT project will recognize this: you spend months building something new, everything seems to be going smoothly, and suddenly, in the final stretch, unexpected problems pop up. The test team comes under pressure, bugs are still present in the software, and the deadline looms dangerously close. This situation isn’t limited to traditional waterfall projects; it occurs just as easily in iterative approaches.

Why Testing So Often Gets Squeezed

The root cause is almost always the same: testing is treated as an afterthought. Project phases overrun, developers need extra time, and the time reserved for testing keeps shrinking. There’s a common belief that testing can be done ‘quickly, somewhere in between,’ especially if there’s an experienced test team involved. But that’s precisely where the trouble starts.

What’s Really at Stake

The consequences are real. Skimping on testing time leads to serious risks:

• Critical bugs are only discovered at the last moment, when fixes are most expensive and complex.
• The team becomes frustrated or even demotivated due to constant time pressure.
• Production bugs damage customer trust and the organization’s reputation.
• The costs of last-minute fixes spiral out of control.

This isn’t just a theoretical risk. I’ve seen it happen: a test team working deep into the night because, only just before the deadline, it became clear how much was still going wrong. Motivation plummeted, and what should have been a project success left a sour aftertaste.

The Solution: Move Testing Up and Make It a Conscious Choice

What works in practice is simple: bring testing forward in the process. Don’t let it depend on what’s ‘left over’ at the end, but integrate test activities into every phase of the project. This means making clear choices: where are the biggest risks, what absolutely needs to be tested, and how do we ensure there’s enough time to fix issues properly?

It also helps to make the whole team—from business to development—aware of the importance of testing. Testing isn’t the job of a small group at the end; it’s a shared responsibility from day one.

Modern Approaches Still Require Test Priority

Some think these problems only occur in classic projects. But even in organizations working with agile, or other other modern methods, it’s tempting to give testing too little priority. Early and structured testing only works if its importance is widely recognized and if it’s a constant topic on the agenda.

I’ve seen Agile teams use the so-called “review meeting” as nothing more than a quick demo for the customer. What was missed? The opportunity to have real business users, those who actually work with the processes every day, validate the application in practice. The focus stayed on showing the software, rather than checking if it truly supported daily business needs. The result? Missed issues, last-minute rework, overtime, and ultimately, the IT team’s reputation took a hit.

In Conclusion

Testing isn’t a luxury or an afterthought, it’s the foundation of successful projects. By prioritizing it from the very start, you avoid the most common pitfalls: time pressure, stress, costly fixes, and damaged trust. Investing in test time, strategy, and teamwork makes your software better, and your project team happier.