Refactoring is abused as a handy word to use to describe random shit that would confuse management if you went into detail. If you're genuinely refactoring then

Refactoring is abused as a handy word to use to describe random shit that would confuse management if you went into detail. If you're genuinely refactoring then, depending on the scope of the refactoring and the nature of the code being refactored, I would agree. Making that judgment is part of being good at your job. But "refactoring" often means "cleaning up some really shitty code we wrote in haste last month now that we aren't facing a horrible deadline", and that's worth doing with or without good tests. And using a nice opaque term like refactoring stops your having to explain "good, fast, cheap" to some manager like he/she is stupid (which he/she is not) for the umpteenth time.