Have you ever modified an existing heuristic or created your own?

In my article Software Testing Heuristics: Mind The Gap! I share how I develop my own heuristics (such as SACRED and TRIMS) and modify existing heuristics to suit my needs. Namely, by

  • Reflecting on what I am doing or have done
  • Verbalising what I’m doing whilst testing
  • Teaching folks what I’m doing and why
  • Adding something to an existing heuristic
  • Removing parts of an existing heuristic
  • Mixing up two or more existing heuristics

I’d love to hear your stories on how you’ve modified a heuristic to suit your context and if you have developed any new heuristics that support your testing.

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An older thread, but a good one for a wee bump IMHO…

I’m sold on heuristics and cheatsheets having used Elizabeth Hendrickson’s to great efect over some time. I’ve referred colleagues (sometimes developers other times non-developers … basically folks who are not trained software testers) to it when they have to work alone to perform some light testing so they can generate ideas on test cases and it definitely adds a lot of value.

In the recent MoT Larvae Hunting Masterclass I was inspired to create a heuristic/cheatsheet based on finding larvae which would go on to become bugs, which is something I’ve been doing more of over recent years as I gain more experience of software testing. However, I was doing this in an informal and ad-hoc way without really appreciating the value add (i.e. via saving the bug from even coming about!).

So, inspired by the masterclass I had a go at creating my first heuristic/cheatsheet and we are now using in my work to really try to embed shifting testing left, but using the heuristic/cheatsheet as a framework around which we in testing can work and which will also give guidance to develpoers and others who are involved in the software creation process. It’s attached to this post: Masterclass Further Discussion: Let's Go Larvae Hunting!

Has anyone else got any other heuristics or stories related to them please?

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