(E24) The Economics of Testing: Making the Business Case for Quality with Vitaly Sharovatov

In this episode of Developers Who Test, host Chris Harbert sits down with Vitaly Sharovatov, a seasoned developer and engineering manager with over 22 years of experience. Vitaly serves as a developer advocate at Qase, a test case management platform, and has written extensively about AI, testing methodology, and the economics of software quality.

Key Topics:

• Why developers implicitly do testing already—and why they should understand it deeply
• A simpler approach: quantifying the costs of bad quality you're already paying (support calls, lost sales, maintenance overhead)
• The social dynamics of selling quality ideas—finding allies and helping managers "show off" cost savings
• When to automate vs. when to test manually: understanding the economic inflection point
• The hidden costs of poor quality on team morale, burnout, and employee retention

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4qN8d6E4EkOQbHwTSQV6Kd?si=Z5zfmv4sQXqLNLlEFb_ewQ