When you talk about effectiveness (doing a right thing) a mnemonic is very useful. In software testing there are a lot of mnemonics.
One of the best resources I fond is from Quality Perspectives.
There is a catch 22 with mnemonics: if you want to use them everywhere they have to be generic. If they are generic some things might not apply in your context.
I wanted to build a mnemonic for my colleagues. I used the Testing Map as a resource but also the mnemonics from Quality Perspectives.
It found it extremely difficult to make a easy to remember mnemonic. Sometimes finding the right combination can take too much time.
I have settled on a approach where the wording of the mnemonic has to be just a little bit memorable but in order to make sure you remember it you relay on visual memory.
Here is what I came up with within the context of my company:
How is is this more easy to remember? Here are a things I though of:
- CAGS – very strange word indeed. But if you look at the colors you will see that they fade because Compliance can include Accessibility, Globalization and Standards.
- CRUD in Romanian mean raw, so green is a very suitable color.
- The icon from SSH protocol will be very easy to remember. Perhaps I will throw a broccoli in there just to make it more fun.
- BAD – with a picture of Michael Jackson might bring back memories.
- A D with a table in it it will make you remember easily decision table.
- CIF is a popular “chemical”. What you do with it … you DO.
The next step is to go to the team and let them tailor it.