Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M1219

Pesticide Paradox

Pesticide Paradox
SystemsmediumSystems Theory
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

If you keep using the same set of test cases to test software, this set will eventually fail to find new bugs. Because the software will develop 'resistance' to this set (developers will intentionally or unintentionally only fix the bugs that are tested, ignoring those that are not).

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Countering metric failure. Any static assessment metric (test cases, KPIs) will eventually fail. It is necessary to regularly update the 'pesticide' (assessment criteria), introduce new randomness and chaos, to uncover hidden dangers deep in the system.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

A phenomenon in software testing: the same batch of test cases becomes less effective with repeated use (like pests developing resistance to pesticides), as the types of defects change and new problems are not detected.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

  • link
    katalon.comhttps://katalon.com/resources-center/blog/pesticide-paradox-in-software-testingZH · Explicit
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