Wednesday 14 August 2013

The Huddled Masses Use Case



Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"
Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"



OK, so I wasn't exactly poor. Or wretched.
I was tired of the London commute though...
And the flight over was full so maybe that counts as huddled?


But I had joined the many many people that had come to the USA to find a new life.
So you might have thought the US was used to dealing with immigrants and people coming in from different countries.


Well if you're a tester you didn't think that and yup, some of the IT systems I've had to interact with recently don't seem to consider that case.
Most recent example - "addresses lived at in the 5 last years" don't seem to have non-US as an option.
Somewhat disappointing that us resident aliens are not thought about.


Carrying on with the use case stories, a co-worker noticed me deep in thought and asked what I was thinking about:

"Death and Divorce" 
was my cheerful reply.


For the new system I'm about to start testing I was coming up with some scenarios
- If the account is a joint account what happens if the partners divorce?
- If the account is a joint account and needs both parties to agree what happens when one dies? Does the account become a single account?


Life happens - does your app account for all the trials and tribulations ( and happiness ) that happens over a lifetime?

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