Your Green Test Suite: What Are You Really Measuring?

InnovationYour Green Test Suite: What Are You Really Measuring?ByMargarita Simonova,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)Jun 02, 2026, 06:15am EDTMargarita Simonova is the founder of ILoveMyQA.com. gettyYour dashboard is green. The suite has passed, coverage looks healthy and leadership assumes the release is safe. But a passing test suite may be misleading. Even with a green dashboard, it's unclear whether the product is more reliable, critical user paths are secure or hidden issues exist.​Teams often confuse evidence of activity with evidence of safety. This confusion can lead to complacency, where the appearance of successful tests overshadows the need for deeper validation. In this article, we will take a look at what you should be measuring instead.​The Old Metrics Are No Longer EnoughThe traditional metrics used in QA were useful when software changed slowly and product risk was easier to see. But as modern delivery accelerates and products become more integrated, failures are often less apparent and harder to detect.​Despite these changes, most teams still rely on these outdated metrics. They focus on volume-based metrics such as test coverage and automation coverage, which do not fully address the complexities of today’s fast-moving development environment. ​Outcome metrics tied to business impact are rare. This gap means that teams often miss opportunities to understand how their testing efforts contribute to overall business goals.​Furthermore, while production data is widely reviewed, many organizations still cannot turn it into better testing decisions. The industry is collecting more signals than ever before but not always getting better results or finding the truth.What Is The Vanity-Metric Trap?Vanity metrics provide a measure of how busy your team is rather than insight into the safety or...