Why we build test-driven (even for a marketing site)

There's a myth that tests slow you down. The opposite is true, and small teams feel it most: the cost of a bug you ship is always higher than the cost of the test that would have caught it.

Tests are a contract

Every acceptance criterion becomes a test written before the code. When the tests pass, the work is done: not "done-ish," not "works on my machine." That's the difference between software you can hand off and software you have to babysit.

The payoff is change

The real value shows up months later, when you want to change something. A tested codebase lets you move fast because you can't quietly break what already works. That confidence is the whole point, and it's what you're actually paying a senior engineer for.