TDD is development

Apropos very little, in a recent conversation it was suggested that testing is waste from the perspective of the business. My immediate reaction was visceral opposition to that line of thinking. 

After some consideration it occurs to me that the assertion that Testing is Waste must be wholly incorrect. Here's how I got there.

First, if I ask you to build me a Flux Capacitor, how do I know I have one unless I test it? That is, testing is the validation that tells me as a product owner that I have received what I asked for. No waste there.

Second, if I'm making a Flux Capacitor I must have some means of knowing that what I've built does what I want it to do. I'll have to test the device to see if it qualifies as a Flux Capacitor. 

So, in order to build the Flux Capacitor, the engineer building it must conduct some tests to ensure that the thing built behaves like a Flux Capacitor. In order to receive a Flux Capacitor, as a product owner, I must conduct some tests to verify that the device I've been given is a Flux Capacitor. 

Therefore, testing isn't a waste, it is a necessity.