Flaky, Fragile, and Forgotten: The Fall of a Test Automation Project

Do you have flaky, fragile, and forgotten tests in your repository? I did. In this session, I will explain why tests end up in such a poor state—and, of course, how to avoid falling into the same trap.

When I joined one of my recent projects, people kept saying they had not been able to deliver properly for a long time. There were constant complaints about instability, slow pipelines, and too many testing-related problems slowing development down.

After spending some time with the team, I realized the issue was much deeper than just "flaky tests." At one point, the entire team had to reserve most of its capacity just to fix broken tests and stabilize automation.

The result was a vicious cycle where tests failed, pipelines became blocked, stories could not be completed, pressure on the team increased, and the quality of the test code degraded even further. Instead of accelerating development, the automation suite had become one of the main bottlenecks preventing delivery.

Test code is as important as product code and directly affects delivery, since failing tests can block the pipeline. Avoiding anti-patterns and following good practices is necessary, but not sufficient on its own. Effective automation requires a holistic approach across the team and system. Without strong lower-level tests and proper tooling, even well-designed system tests will fail to deliver value. Ultimately, success depends on collaboration between QA, developers, product owners, and managers to build a sustainable quality strategy.