The Limits of TDD: The "Is TDD Dead?" Debate, Research, When Not to TDD and TDD with AI Agents
TDD is a trade-off, not a ritual: research shows a small quality gain and mixed productivity results, and suggests the benefit may come from short, steady steps more than from the test-first order. We cover the 2014 "Is TDD Dead?" debate, where TDD falls short (spikes, UI, performance), rules against AI coding agents' tendency to skip and loosen tests, and a CI step that catches it, with real output.
14 Nov 2026
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11 min
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3
