Friday creativity: what is a 'Shoe Box Test'?

[The Lone Gunman]

Shoe box testing is about form fit and function.
Its name derives from the fact that a shoe box has the size, style and fit of its contents written on a label on the outside but one needs to check the contents of the box match what it says and are the same as the ones you tried on in the shop.
It is a validation and verification excercise rather than a functionality excersise and is performed as a final check before delivery.
NOTE: The customer may not want the box, or any of the packaging for that matter so be prepared to strip out the adware and Easter Eggs and other bloatware.
It is at this point in the proceedings that you should point out the maintenance products specifically designed for this product that the client may want to purchase before leaving to keep their purchase in the best working order.

[RichardCranium]

Ah! Found it on Wikipedia:

The Shoe Box Test

Originally developed in 2007 by Professor Bob Roberts, Emeritus Professor of Masonry at Sunflower Valley University, for the construction industry, the Shoe Box Test is a set of principles that can be applied to any creative engineering project. For example, it is rapidly being taken up the UK in the IT industry for software development projects.

It uses the fish / dam principle. Small fish, such as young salmon, cannot easily swim upstream and so artificial ladders are provided for them. Larger fish can easily do so. This analogy, and observations based upon nature, show how a large fish, when it swims over a dam, will be followed by smaller fish.

By having a test strategy, the strategy itself acts as a dam, preventing some faults from being identified as they 'pass up the ladder' instead.

(The origins in the construction industry are clear from the civil engineering references made by Professor Bob.)

An alternative method is to transport the faults to the known area via a cheaper transport mechanism, in this analogy, the ideal being a cardboard box. Although fish are normally transported in clear plastic bags, the cardboard box is used to emphasise 'out of the box thinking'. We do not want the faults to 'go live' so we do not need to care if the big or little fish are also live, so a cardboard box will suffice. Indeed, an old shoe box would be perfect.

A mnemonic exists to remind practitioners of the processes involved: "big fish, little fish, cardboard box".

Much has been written on the subject and training videos are available for free, online, especially for the building industry.

[FSM with Cheddar]

You have to put the shoe box on your desk and explain to it what your code is meant to do, and what it is actually doing.

Soon you will realise your code doesn't do what it is meant to.

Best testing tool available.

[Pondlife]

Left shoe = business requirements
Right Shoe = what was delivered
Shoe Box = Stakeholders expectations

Shoebox testing is used to determine the PMs ability to sell what the business asked for and the solution delivered as being a perfect fit.

Usually you have to turn the business requirements upside down to do this.

Edit: that paper that was stuffed in the shoes at the start represents governance. We all know where that ends up before anyone uses it.

[basshead]

Its the test whereby you eject the technical lead from the project, putting all his belongings in a shoe box, and then see if anyone is able to do a code build or satisfactorily explain the impact of a change request on the system.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

This made me laugh so much people looked round - thanks

[thunderlizard]

If you can print out all the documentation and still fit it in a shoebox, you haven't written enough.

[Moscow Mule]

It's just a phrase to encompass all of the testing that doesn't fall into white or black box testing - the analogy is all the little bits and bobs your Great Aunt stores in a shoebox that don't go anywhere else.

Have I created a paradigm?

[RichardCranium]

Between original PM and thelurker a new standard has been invented called the 'Shoe Box Test'. Now it just needs a definition.

I hope you did not mention

Unit test, black box test, white box test, shoe box test

cos I made that one up!

The Scenario
A consultant project manager has done a presentation on good practice to ClientCo and they mentioned "Shoe Box Test". This is now listed as an essential requirement on all ClientCo's job descriptions.

You have an interview at ClientCo and they say "Talk to us about Shoe Box Testing" or ask a question about Shoe Box Testing.

You want the gig. What do you say?