Heuristics Shared at TCQAA Meeting, July 9, 2003

• Bugs tend to cluster
• Developers make similar mistakes over time
• Look at boundary conditions
• Focus on revised code
• Look more at new features
• Try 3+ times through loops
• Last minute design changes
• High traffic areas with a history of breaking
• Code that is developed offsite
• Interfaces between objects or windows
• Code that is re-used in multiple places
• Code that is developed/compiled on a different platform than it will be used on
• Places where the business domain is complex
• Test basic flow first
• Dependency on different versions of other connected applications
• Create a decision tree and follow all the paths in it
• Decision logic errors
• First install initialization
• Clean installs vs. follow-on installations
• All-pairs combinations to reduce overall number of tests (look at subset of combinations)
• Look for uninitialized data
• Run application with multiple users, multiple PC’s, etc. that developers cannot do easily
• Localization – can it be done, was it done correctly
• Test more where requirements are fuzzy, ambiguous, missing, hazy, etc.
• Test where it is harder to fix (fix requires compilation vs. changes in scripting at run-time)
• Test dates