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EuroSTAR Conference

Europe's Largest Quality Engineering Conference

Track Talk, T12

Don’t Trust a You’ve Test Never Seen Fail: Reverse Mutation Testing

Leonardo Lanni

13:15 - 14:00 CEST, Tuesday 16th June

“Don’t trust an automated test you’ve never seen fail.”

This mantra speaks directly to a hidden risk in modern software delivery: tests that pass but wouldn’t catch a real bug. Reverse Mutation Testing (RMT) offers a lightweight, practical way to “test your tests” – ensuring they actually detect defects rather than simply going green.

Unlike classic Mutation Testing, which mutates the application code, RMT flips the approach: we mutate the test cases themselves and observe the results. A good test should fail when intentionally broken.

If it doesn’t, that’s a red flag. The process is semi-automated (checking the identified suspicious test cases and, if needed, fixing them is still the manual part) and can be easily integrated into existing QE pipelines, enabling teams to surface and fix weak or faulty tests without major overhead.

In this session, we’ll explore RMT through a live demonstration using a Java PoC project hosted on GitHub. You’ll learn how to apply it both on newly written and legacy test suites, how to read and act on RMT reports, and how to turn it into a quality gate that strengthens your CI/CD pipeline.

This session aims to drive home a key point: writing tests is not enough – testing them is essential. With Reverse Mutation Testing, teams can confidently answer the question: Will our tests catch the next bug?

What you will learn

  1. Never trust an automated test you’ve never seen fail - always test your tests!
  2. Reverse Mutation Testing uncovers test debt and improves test reliability and effectiveness
  3. RMT is simple, scalable, time-budgeted and pipeline-friendly

Session Details

  • Intermediate
  • 45mins
  • Includes 15min Q&A
  • Innovative testing strategies
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Check out this video from Leonardo Lanni to hear more about his talk on Don’t Trust a Test Never Seen Fail: Reverse Mutation Testing.

We look forward to welcoming you to EuroSTAR 2026.

Session Speakers

Leonardo Lanni

QA Roots, Spain

Leonardo Lanni, founder of QA Roots, is a global expert in Quality Engineering with 18+ years of experience. He helps companies build scalable QA strategies, focusing on automation, shift-left, and coaching. An international speaker, he’s also a patent inventor, music lover, and passionate about Agile and Startups.

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