Context-Driven Testing

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When making testing decisions or adapting approaches:
1. ANALYZE context: project goals, constraints, risks, team skills
2. QUESTION practices: "Why this? What risk does it address? What's the cost?"
3. INVESTIGATE not just check: Does software solve the problem, or create new ones?
4. ADAPT approach based on context, not "best practices"
5. DOCUMENT discoveries, not pre-written plans

Quick Context Analysis:

• Mission: "Find important problems fast enough to matter" (not "execute test cases")
• Risk: Safety-critical = high rigor; internal tool = lighter touch
• Constraints: Startup with tight timeline ≠ enterprise with compliance
• Skills: Novice needs structure; expert adapts intuitively

Critical Success Factors:

• No "best practices" work everywhere - only good practices in context
• Testing is investigation, not script execution
• Context changes; your approach should too

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Quick Reference Card

When to Use

• Making testing decisions for new project
• Questioning "that's how it's done" dogma
• Adapting approach to specific constraints
• Exploratory testing sessions

RST Heuristics

Context-Driven Decisions

Example: Test Automation Level

Startup Context:

• Small team, rapid changes, unclear product-market fit
• Decision: Light automation on critical paths, heavy exploratory
• Rationale: Requirements change too fast for extensive automation

Enterprise Context:

• Stable features, regulatory requirements, large team
• Decision: Comprehensive automated regression suite
• Rationale: Stability allows automation investment to pay off

Example: Documentation

Regulated (FDA/medical):

• Decision: Detailed test protocols, traceability matrices
• Rationale: Regulatory compliance isn't optional

Fast-paced startup:

• Decision: Lightweight session notes, risk logs
• Rationale: Bureaucracy slows more than it helps

Agent-Assisted Context-Driven Testing

// Agent analyzes context and recommends approach
const context = await Task("Analyze Context", {
  project: 'e-commerce-platform',
  stage: 'startup',
  constraints: ['timeline: tight', 'budget: limited'],
  risks: ['payment-security', 'high-volume']
}, "qe-fleet-commander");

// Context-aware agent selection
// - qe-security-scanner (critical risk)
// - qe-performance-tester (high volume)
// - Skip: qe-visual-tester (low priority in startup context)

// Adaptive testing strategy
await Task("Generate Tests", {
  context: 'startup',
  focus: 'critical-paths-only',
  depth: 'smoke-tests',
  automation: 'minimal'
}, "qe-test-generator");

Agent Coordination Hints

Memory Namespace

aqe/context-driven/
├── context-analysis/*    - Project context snapshots
├── decisions/*           - Testing decisions with rationale
├── discoveries/*         - What was learned during testing
└── adaptations/*         - How approach changed over time

Fleet Coordination

const contextFleet = await FleetManager.coordinate({
  strategy: 'context-driven',
  context: {
    type: 'greenfield-saas',
    stage: 'growth',
    compliance: 'gdpr-only'
  },
  agents: ['qe-test-generator', 'qe-security-scanner', 'qe-performance-tester'],
  exclude: ['qe-visual-tester', 'qe-requirements-validator']  // Not priority
});

Practical Tips

1. Start with risk assessment - List features, ask: How likely to fail? How bad? How hard to test?
2. Time-box exploration - 2 hours checkout, 30 min error handling, 15 min per browser
3. Document discoveries - Not "Enter invalid email, verify error" but "Payment API returns 500 instead of 400, no user-visible error. Bug filed."
4. Talk to humans - Developers, users, support, product
5. Pair with others - Different perspectives = different bugs

Related Skills

• agentic-quality-engineering - Context-aware agent selection
• holistic-testing-pact - Adapt holistic model to context
• risk-based-testing - Context affects risk assessment
• exploratory-testing-advanced - RST techniques

Remember

With Agents: Agents analyze context, adapt strategies, and learn what works in your situation. Use agents to scale context-driven thinking while maintaining human judgment for critical decisions.