Comment by viktorianer
6 hours ago
The freed-up time question is answerable when the work has clear metrics. A model test suite dropping from 6 minutes to 66 seconds saves developer time on every single run. Ten developers running tests five times a day, the math is straightforward.
The problem is that most engineering work lacks that kind of before/after measurement. Not because it is unmeasurable, but because nobody set up the baseline. Profile before you optimize and the return on investment calculates itself.
If a test suite runs for either 6 minutes or 66 seconds I am not staring at it while it runs. I am doing something else. So that is not holding up my time
If you have no feedback for 6 minutes, it will hold up your time.