[_ea1k]

Yeah, that advice was bad and looked like it was written by someone that's done too many deployments and not enough development.

He's certainly right that deployment validation is the best test at some level. But it completely leaves off the most important aspect. That deployment validation, and the mistakes that you inevitably find, should directly guide your test development to prevent regression.

If you do this, future component upgrades and deployments get easier. Its well worth the extra effort.