Verifying changes

Evidence before assertions. Never say complete, fixed or passing without having run the command and read its output.

Scope while iterating, sweep at the end

• Run the suites the change can actually reach.
• Too wide — a full sweep per small fix — slows the loop someone is watching.
• Too narrow — a compile-check when a suite covers the change, or one platform when the edit was in shared code — is how a regression ships.
• A compile-check alone is enough only when no test covers the change.
• A delete or rename reaches every suite that references the symbol, not just the diff.
• Run the full suite once at the end, as the final gate. Not per edit.

Report honestly

• Tests fail: say so, with the output — including failures you did not cause.
• A step skipped: say which and why.
• Done and verified: say it plainly, without hedging.
• Not verified: say that, never imply it.

A confident summary over an unrun command is the most expensive thing you can produce: it ends the review that would have caught the problem.

Read the result, not the log

• On failure, read the structured result — a result bundle, JUnit XML, a test summary — not thousands of console lines. Grepping for error reliably finds the wrong ones.
• Read the count, not just the status. A typo'd test filter runs zero tests and exits green; "0 failures" can mean 0 tests.
• Incremental builds keyed on source fingerprints can skip a resource-only change entirely.
• When relying on a cached or filtered run, name the gap.

Passing is not done

• A green suite proves the code does what its tests check, not what was asked.
• Re-read the brief, plan or ticket and check each requirement against the diff. Tests written in the same change share the author's reading, so they cannot catch a misreading.

Before claiming done

• The command was run in this session, after the last edit
• Its output was read, not assumed
• The test count is non-zero and matches expectation
• The full suite was swept once, at the end
• Each requirement in the brief, plan or ticket was checked against the diff
• Anything unverified is stated as unverified