The Skill of Factoring: Identifying What to Test

When you're given a product to test, a variety of clients to satisfy, and a short deadline to meet, how do you decide specifically what to test and how to test it? One way is to identify the things that might matter to some clients and not to others. In this interactive session, Michael Bolton describes the skill of factoring (not to be confused with refactoring)-ways to identify dimensions of interest relevant to testing. Through individual and group exercises, you'll practice the skills of factoring, learn guideword heuristics that can help identify important factors, and develop guidewords of your own. Experience the ways in which small changes in context can dramatically expand or contract your understanding of what's important and unimportant. Learn a framework for identifying factors that matter to your clients so you can respond rapidly, confidently, and expertly to any testing mission.