• There are so many dimensions to "realistic" test data not least that data has natural hot spots. It's difficult to come up with test data that truly simulate the production environment.

    In terms of getting to a repeatable state we are looking to rebuild a baseline after a successful release rather than re-running an every increasing number of scripts with an ever increasing rebuild time.

    The discipline we try to adopt is to look at what it is we are trying to achieve and to take a step back and ask what we need to be able to achieve it rather than to bash our heads against a brick wall with a particular solution. In effect OODA - Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.