How would you describe your approach to the relationship between risks, questions, exploration and sharing?

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In the early days of my testing career I’d jump straight into scenarios – “I need to test this and test that”. I noticed a profound difference in my approach to testing once I tried my best to capture risks first. My senses open to more opportunities and typically discovering more useful things.

Do you R&Q? (Risks and Questions):

  1. Write down risks i.e. stuff that would suck – written as a statement e.g. An admin user is unable to download the weekly report
  2. Write down questions related to those risks e.g. What happens when an admin user attempts to download the weekly report?
  3. Go explore and answer those questions related to risk
  4. Document discoveries and share
  5. Agree actions, go back to 1.

This 5-point R&Q approach attempts to summarise something that encourages teams to focus on risk first. I enjoy how it’s possible to map a risk statement with a series of (hopefully) answered questions.

What do you think? How would you describe your approach to the relationship between risks, questions, exploration and sharing?

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To me, a lot of the R &Q you can consider is controlled by how much time you have to test. And I think that being conscious of that time pressure then drives the “i need to test this and test that” mode of thinking, rather than being able to take the time to fully consider all the R & Q leisurely.

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