Riskstorming the Vending Machine

At the end of yesterdays session, we explored the Riskstorming app. Our task was to complete a risk storming session on a vending machine. We needed to focus in on one Quality Aspect, think of some risks that could occur to impact that Quality Aspect and then identify strategies to tackle those risks. We had no fixed image of a particular machine/ machine interface so we had the freedom to think as widely as possible about different risks

This was really enjoyable and a great way to familiarise myself with the basic concepts of different types of testing as well as quality aspects in software.

I chose to look into risks around performance:

This task has familiarised me to so many new concepts, and I will be coming back to it to spark ideas when looking into other areas of quality.

I reckon any tester would come across a pattern or heuristic new to them when trying it out, and it’s worth it just to find the wackily named ones! My personal favourites on that front are:

• “Ikea Effect” - Giving more value to somthing you have built
• “Dogfooding” - rolling out a new software package internally for staff to use in real situations
• “Choas Engineering” - Using test techniques to try and tear down the production environment
• “Galumphing” - Adding redundant and seemingly insignificant actions to see if they have an unexpected impact