How can Testing Teams Effectively Identify and Test Edge Cases to Ensure Comprehensive Software Quality?
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I go through a form of risk & impact analysis with my team during the planning stage to try and identify areas that could be affected by the proposed change.
Then during testing I always try and go into it thinking “how can I try and find scenarios where this feature will break”.
I also try if possible (and sensible) to automate the happy path of the feature, which is ideally defined by the users.
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I’m in a uncharacteristically musical mode as I went to a tiny concert this weekend.
Get everyone on the same hymn-sheet by agreeing and understanding the business and product constraints?
@adrianjr You’ve highlighted some excellent strategies for identifying and testing edge cases effectively. Risk and impact analysis during the planning stage is crucial for understanding potential areas of vulnerability.
Adopting a proactive mindset during testing to explore scenarios where features might break is also a commendable approach. Automating the happy path of features, as defined by users, can streamline testing processes and ensure comprehensive coverage.
Overall, your approach seems robust and aligned with best practices in testing.
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Haha, It appears there might have been a misunderstanding in your response.
It’s always about communication, if you really work the angle many software friction causes come down to the people building it not talking. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/sing-from-the-same-hymn-sheet#:~:text=phrase%20[VERB%20inflects],appear%20to%20agree%20about%20it.
I have some questions on this:
- What does the testing team consist of?
- What type of product, business, company size, IT process, management, etc is there?
- What’s the expertise of those testing?
- What’s the cost of failure? Is the case in a place that matters? and to whom?
- What are the available resources, time, money, devices, setup, environments…?
- ‘Edge Cases’ of what? There are always edge cases at various levels and times during product development. Knowing which ones we’re trying to look after matters in the strategy/approach we take.
- Identification and testing for edge cases, does not change the quality of the software; most of the edge cases found are a waste of time. Some companies throw away 99% of those as they don’t impact their business if they fix them, and it only costs them if they do tackle them.
This hasn’t been my experience thankfully. I am actively encouraged to seek out the edge cases and any that are found are more often than not fixed. I know that our product owner would be kept awake at night if I only kept my testing to the happy path 
.
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@ipstefan
Thankyou for raising this.
While the composition of the testing team, product specifies, and available resources certainly play a role, identifying and testing edge cases remains crucial for ensuring robust software quality.
Understanding the potential impact of edge cases on product, business & stakeholders is essential in prioritizing testing efforts. While it’s true that not all edge cases may directly impact businees outcomes, addressing them can contribute to a more resilient and reliable product in long run.
Additionally, while it’s acknowleged that not all identified edge cases may warrant immediate attention, proactively addressing those that have the potential to impact user experience, data integrity, or system stability can ultimately enhance overall product quality/customer satisfaction.
@adrianjr Thankyou for sharing your perspective, it’s encouraging to hear that your organization value on edge cases in testing. Indeed, thorough testing, including exploration is essential for delivering a high-quality product & minimizes the risk of unforeseen issues.
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ok “Sing from the same hym sheet” collins english dictionary reads:
or to sing from the same song sheet
PHRASE [VERB inflects]
If you say that people, especially people in the same organization, are singing from the same hymn sheet or are singing from the same song sheet, you mean that they are saying the same things in public about something and appear to agree about it.
We should bring together the departments so that we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet