This blog will focus on discovering context, a
key aspect of all software testing. Context is king, and
essential to understand what you are testing, how it could be used,
and how it could fail. It is also important to understand the
dynamics of projects, organisations and even metrics. Even
something as seemingly simple as time can have various contexts -
the time of day (core hours, out of hours), time of week (business
hours, weekend), time of season (peak, off-peak), time of year
(weekly, fortnightly, monthly, etc.), or an unpredictable
time. Usage is another important context, a newbie, typical
or veteran user could be using a system in a regular, irregular or
extreme fashion. As we test more, we learn more about these
patterns (at least our subconscious brains do) and our context
discovering becomes more advanced.
Lets start out by looking at a most extreme example of
discovering context. Wilson Greatbatch was a scientist
investigating a device to record heart rhythms, who accidentally
used a massively overpowered resistor. Instead of recording, it
pulsed with a slow regular rhythm. The invention became the
pacemaker, replacing a giant fixed machine. Harry Coover was
a military research scientist, who tried using a new mystery
compound in gun sights without success then later in aircraft
cockpit canopies without success, because the substance quickly
became a gooey mess. It took a while before he also realised
it bonded things together with an incredible strength. Of course,
we now all know it as superglue!
At least with software and projects our contexts are more easily
discoverable (but not always!). Can anyone think of other extreme
examples of discovering context?