Re: UAT Test Scripts

[Beth Agnew <beth -dot- agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca>]

Good User Acceptance Testing often means pushing the envelope as far as 
what the product can do. Techwriters find many of the flaws users might 
encounter because during documentation we are exploring rather than 
using it to complete tasks. As Tony mentioned, you want to find where 
the exceptions are hiding. What happens to the product if you enter 
invalid input? In a date field, for example, if you input the 76th of 
Orkuary, year 3, will it accept it? What if you do not follow an 
accepted workflow but do things differently? Users are individuals, 
after all. What things are users likely to do with the product that may 
not have been anticipated?

Years ago, we used to include a "gack test" in UAT, i.e., to find out if 
the program would crash if the user pressed multiple keys on the 
keyboard at the same time. "Gack" comes from the sound made when someone 
falls face first on a keyboard.
--Beth

Tony Markos wrote: