Field Notes
Three Weeks, Three Failure Classes
Step discount failed three weeks running and the failure class changed every week, because each retest was scoped to whatever the previous week's bugs had named.
// how hard can it be?
Salesforce QA, written after the bugs. Not before.
Case studies and frameworks from real projects. Short sentences. Own mistakes. No theory.
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Framework
"If Required" Is an Unassigned Decision
One design described postcode matching three times and never decided. Every worked example used a prefix — and a PE1 prefix row silently captures PE10 through PE19.
Field Notes
Four Candidate Keys for One Lookup
Four candidate keys were circulating for one lookup — postcode, Service_ID, S-Number and UPRN. The real defect was that the chosen key was one level coarser than the fact it encodes.
Framework
A Channel With No Actor
Every test case on the project opened by logging into Salesforce as a named user. Then a channel arrived where the customer builds the order on an external site and nobody is logged in at all.
Field Notes
Test the Edit, Not the End State
A bundle removed from the cart and added back before submit produced a clean order, a successful billing callout, and a wrong invoice. Nothing in Salesforce showed a problem.
Field Notes
Diff the Clone Against Its Twin
One acceptance criterion said the promotion drops off after three months and the bill reverts to £30, then two bullets later said six months free with month seven at £16.
Framework
A Duration Is Two Facts: a Length and a Starting Gun
"6 months free" was written down four times and its starting point three different ways — from purchase, in billing periods, from go-live. The payload omitted the start date its neighbours carry.
Field Notes
When the Design Says It Does Not Exist, Check Anyway
A design document stated in bold that no stepped-discount product would be created and no agent action was required. Two of them had been live for a month, self-approving at any amount.