Understanding the Trophy Model for Software Quality

Software testing frameworks like the Trophy Model provide modern teams with a balanced strategy for maintaining quality without escalating costs. This model, which focuses on integration tests, is an automated testing strategy aligned to build robust and resilient software. Here, we'll break down the Trophy Model and its benefits.

What is the Trophy Model?

The Trophy Model is a visual and strategic approach to testing that resembles the shape of a trophy, where different types of testing are represented in layers of increasing complexity as you move upwards. This is instead of, for example, the Pyramid model where unit tests are the bulk of your testing and the higher you get in complexity, the fewer tests that are created.

The model starts with Static Tests at the base, representing code checks such as linters. Unit Tests are next, the foundation of the trophy, and moves upwards to Integration Tests, End-to-End Tests, and Exploratory or Manual Testing at the top. This hierarchy suggests a shift from high-volume, low-complexity tests at the base to low-volume, high-value tests at the top.

The Trophy Model is gaining popularity in testing circles as an evolution of the traditional Test Pyramid by introducing modern concepts like exploratory testing. Let’s dive into each layer.

1. Static Tests

Linters, security scans, and other static code checks which run when a developer commits aren’t normally considered part of testing scope, but I included it here because they are important and can be powerful. One time while working at an insurance company, when they wanted to change the rates, I usually found an error or two just by querying the rate tables and comparing to the requirements. This might be the table the trophy is standing on, if you’re keeping track of the imagery.

Why they’re important:

• Fast execution means frequent and quick validation.

• Static tests catch bugs when committing code, and provide nearly instant feedback

• Cost is very low, and usually created by developers to help them enforce code patters and find generic mistakes

2. Unit Tests

At the base of the Trophy itself are Unit Tests. These tests focus on individual functions or components in isolation, ensuring that they work as expected. Unit tests are normally run at build time, and can be run locally and as part of the build process. They are fast to execute, easy to automate, and provide quick feedback. They are, though, normally created by developers, and thus are expensive to create.

For the trophy model these are usually only used sparingly. Fast execution means frequent and quick validation, however, since they usually test code in isolation, sometimes they end up being redundant, where they basically can’t fail. Most often this happens when an area is looking for a certain percentage of coverage of their unit tests (ie, management wants 100% unit test coverage). Or, they might just end up testing something an IDE would have caught anyway. For highly complex and logic heavy methods and classes, these can be helpful. For this model, it is best to not set percentage or similar coverage goals, and have the team think mindfully when creating these.

3. Integration Tests: Checking For Bugs

The next level of the Trophy focuses on Integration Tests, which verify how different units or components work together. In modern applications, where microservices and APIs are common, integration tests are essential for ensuring the interaction between services is smooth. They frequently can be placed right after a build in a deployment pipeline, or run locally if a developer would like. This stage catches real world bugs that are not evident at the unit level. Unit testing frameworks such as JUnit or NUnit can be used here. For example, JUnit is a great tool for testing APIs, even though it was created as a unit test tool. If built effectively, they usually run quickly with high stability, meaning a low rate of false positives and negatives. The cost of developing these is moderate, but the ability to catch real errors and not throw false positives mean they can form the backbone of automation testing, and where automation can really shine.

4. End-to-End Tests: Ensuring Configuration

Moving further up the Trophy, we have End-to-End Tests (E2E). These tests mimic real user scenarios by testing the entire system, from the frontend through the backend, as a user would experience it. They are designed to validate the system’s behavior as a whole, ensuring all the parts of the application work as expected when combined. They might be run after integration tests using your ci/cd tools, but since they are expensive to create and maintain, and the run time is normally high, these should be used sparingly. Normally, they are good to catch configuration errors, major page speed load lags, 3rd party authentications, and other whole system tests. These are difficult to automate, even with modern AI tools, and thus are normally done manually right after a deployment.

5. Exploratory Testing: Uncovering the Unknown

At the very top of the Trophy, we have Exploratory Testing. This testing is usually done manually, as it would be difficult to automate, even with today’s AI tools. This is where testers leverage their experience and intuition to explore the application without a predefined script. They look for issues that automated tests might miss, such as usability problems or edge cases. This can also include monitoring applications or actions. At one business, after a deployment, I would check how fast messages were building up in AWS, which would be indicative if the application was processing messages, and with regular performance. Another example while I was working at an insurance company, after a complicated release of a discount, I ran a query in production that checked for policies that had a discount and shouldn’t have, and vice versa. This brought to light an improvement needed in QA, where a user type wasn’t tested and should have been. Not only was the defect caught early and saved large cleanup costs, but an improvement to the QA process as a whole surfaced.

The best way to use this is directly after a release, after the automation has used end to end tests to validate the system is up and running, and having a user click through a few pages to look for errors, or in the following few days checking error logs, system queries, and other checks.

Why Use the Trophy Model?

The Trophy Model promotes a balanced approach to testing. It allows teams to focus their automation efforts where it has the least cost and the highest return.

Key benefits include:

• Efficient Test Automation: Prioritizing automation at the integration level ensures fast feedback and where most bugs crop up.

• Cost-Effective Testing: Since integration tests are fast and are developed with a reasonable resourcing, this has a high return on automation quality investments. This model benefits where automation has the quality advantage and manual testing/static checks where humans have a cost/quality advantage.

• Adaptability: The Trophy Model is flexible, acknowledging the need for static, unit, integration, end to end, and exploratory testing, which are critical in fast-moving development environments.

Conclusion

The Trophy Model offers a balanced, scalable approach to testing that modern QA teams can leverage to build high-quality software. It ensures that you get the most out of your test automation while still leaving room for static, unit, and exploratory testing, which can uncover hidden issues. By applying this model, teams can improve test efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver better, more reliable applications to users.