Break Galtons Wall with TDD

Francis Galton believed every person has a hard ceiling on their abilities: a wall of natural talent they simply cannot pass. His research on hereditary genius suggested that no amount of effort could overcome the limits set by nature.

Anders Ericsson spent his career proving Galton wrong. Through decades of studying chess grandmasters, concert pianists, and Olympic athletes, Ericsson found that exceptional performers didn’t just get lucky with a high skill ceiling, they developed exceptional skill through deliberate practice. Deliberate practice, according to Ericsson, has three essential components:

1. Staying goal-oriented
2. Focusing relentlessly on technique
3. Consistent, immediate feedback

This is almost exactly how Test-Driven Development works.

This is remarkably similar to how TDD works:

1. Write a test first -> orient to a goal
2. Refactor on green -> improve how the problem is solved
3. Run the test after each small change -> consistent and immediate feedback

However, deliberate practice is for pushing your skill beyond your current ability. TDD, by itself, doesn’t guarantee that. You can test-drive simple problems and stay comfortably within what you already know. In other words, TDD gives you the a solid structure for practice, but not necessarily the difficulty curve that makes practice “deliberate” in Ericsson’s sense.

Therefore, make sure you gradually tackle more difficult problems and practice TDD with intent if you want to truly master your skills.