Software Design

2 articles in Software Design

An orange background with two cards side by side — left card in deep teal showing the number 31 lines of setup against 4 lines of assertion, right card in warm beige listing the three design problems revealed: too many mocks, complex setup, cannot isolate.

The Test That's Hardest to Write Is Telling You Something About Your Design

When a test requires 40 lines of setup and three mocks for four lines of assertion, engineers blame the test. The test isn't the problem. It's the first thing honest enough to say the design is wrong.

By Shivani Sutreja•June 8, 2026

A deep teal background showing two states side by side — Day 1 with a green DONE checkmark and Day 3 Months Later with a coral question mark asking whether the next engineer can change it without asking the original author.

Engineering Practices, Software Design

"Done" Doesn't Mean It Works. It Means Someone Else Can Change It.

The feature shipped. Tests passed. Ticket closed. Three months later someone needs to change it — and the original author is the only person who understands it. That is not done. That is a liability with a time delay.

By Shivani Sutreja•June 5, 2026