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8.2Common Forms of Test Technical Debt
| Debt Type | Symptom | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Missing test coverage | Bugs escape to production in untested areas | Incident response, customer impact, reputation |
| Flaky tests | Team ignores test failures; real bugs slip through | Eroded trust in the test suite |
| Slow test suite | Developers skip tests or merge without waiting | Delayed feedback, more bugs reaching main |
| Outdated test data | Tests pass but do not reflect real usage patterns | False confidence in quality |
| Hardcoded values | Tests break when environment changes | Maintenance burden, blocked testing |
| No test documentation | New team members cannot understand or maintain tests | Onboarding slowdown, knowledge silos |
| Copy-pasted test code | Identical patterns repeated across 50 files | Changes require updating 50 files instead of 1 |
| Ignored warnings | Deprecation warnings, vulnerability alerts pile up | Sudden breaks when dependencies update |