After seeing Mark Vasko’s CAST 2011 lightning talk, I was inspired to create a Test Idea Wall with one of my project teams.  Much to my surprise, the damn thing actually works.

When I’m taking a break from testing something, I pause as I walk past the Test Idea Wall.  My brain jumps around between the pictures and discovers gaps in my test coverage.

Our wall is incredibly simple, but so far it contains the main test idea triggers we forget.  For example, the picture of the pad lock reminds us to consider locking scenarios, something that is often just an afterthought, but always gets us fruitful information:

• What if we run the same tests as a read-only user?
• What if we run the same tests while another user has our lock?
• What if we run the same tests while the system has our lock?
• What if certain users should not have this permission?

Thanks, Mark!