I agree.
I used to work QA there. Around 2015 there was a push to make sure 80% of all QA test plans were automated. We used to create thorough test plans which drove product quality. Test plans had so many checks that you needed to be an expert in automation to do it. We usually had 1 or 2 ppl in the teams focused on automation while others focused on manual testing.
By 2019 we were being pushed by management to dumb down the test plans (removing the asic hardware to software parity checks) so they were easy enough for any tester to automate so that we don’t need those automation experts (lay them off). But the catch is we had to automate during the same 8-10 week cycle as testing. This drove down the quality of products which = more customer found defects. Who the hell wants to file bugs they have to constantly reproduce with the dev team when you’re being pressured for execution and automation coverage? File bugs fall behind and be at risk for low performance. Don’t file bugs and kick that can down the road but keep your job in the interim. Voice it to your mgr, they don’t want to hear it because they’ve already overcommitted the team to their mgr. Then the first line managers had the nerve to grill the QA teams why there’s more CFDs when they are the reason for them. They don’t want to stand up to their managers to let them know they can’t commit to 80+% automation coverage while maintaining quality and executing 100% of first pass testing within an 8 week cycle.
Sh1t rolls downhill. Everyone just pretends they don’t know what’s going on but know exactly what’s going on.
Managers overcommit to keep their jobs. Employees overcommit to keep their jobs. In the meantime everyone bullsh1ts along because they’ve become de-motivated by the hypocrisy.