This tip comes from Julian Harty, and is based on the work of Edward de Bono. Julian uses the metaphor of six thinking hat to provide six different and distinct viewpoints for software testers. When you wear your red hat, you focus on feelings and emotions. What are your gut feelings and what do your senses tell you about what you're testing?

The red hat provides a safe, controlled vent for people to say how they feel. These feelings may be positive or negative. Without the red hat, people’s feelings may be masked and appear as facts or opinions “it’ll never work here because no-one wants it…” And once the red hat is removed we can put our emotions to one side and focus on other directions. We can use the red hat to ask people how they feel about something. [It] includes intuition, hunches, and emotions. You do not have to justify your contributions!

You can see Julian present the topic at STARWEST here.

This tip comes from Julian Harty, and is based on the work of Edward de Bono. Julian uses the metaphor of six thinking hat to provide six different and distinct viewpoints for software testers. When you wear your blue hat, you focus on control and organization. You focus on what you've learned about the problem and think about what the next steps might be. You reflect on your process and progress.

Blue represents the blue sky above, and helps to provide an overview. With the blue hat we:
• Think about our thinking
• Define the purpose e.g. of a meeting or a task
• Controls the use of other hats
• Gather the outcome, at the end of the meeting
• Set out the next steps

You can see Julian present the topic at STARWEST here.

When I'm testing a web application, I always submit forms with default values. Even if it doesn't make sense. Sometimes, forms can't handle their own default data. Other times, you'll see inconsistencies in error messaging for required fields, or field formats.

If your application has a feature that behaves differently based on the day of the week or hours of operation, make sure you run at least a couple of tests on those off hours. Even if you can simulate that testing during your normal business hours, you'll want to try it at least once in it's native environment or configuration.

When exploratory testing, we sometimes run out of ideas and get blocked. One trick Michael Bolton showed me was to use Oblique Strategies to kickstart my brain. I was surprised that the fifth oblique strategy I selected triggered my brain into a completely new class of test ideas. It's now part of my heuristic tool box for test idea generation.

Try it online here or here.