Automated assurance not only simplifies and reduces costs, but introduces far more advanced testing-like methods to your arsenal. The introduction of automated assurance demands new thinking. Automated assurance metrics and capabilities must be considered and pre-engineered when Cloudified Network Functions (CNFs) and services are designed; it must be built into network automation models; and it demands that automation be a single method across provisioning assurance and capacity management (as is a general best practice for any closed loop). Mostly it demands that we think differently about what is needed, what is possible, and how and when to consider assurance operations at scale. The answer is: early.