The term "Context Driven" has been an alternative approach in the field of software testing. Its concept is similar to agile in terms of being adaptive in nature. As there is Agile Manifesto as guiding values for agile testing, there are seven basic principles of the Context-Driven school as follows:

1. The value of any practice depends on its context.
2. There are good practices in context, but there are no best practices.
3. People, working together, are the most important part of any project's context.
4. Projects unfold over time in ways that are often not predictable.
5. The product is a solution. If the problem isn't solved, the product doesn't work.
6. Good software testing is a challenging intellectual process.
7. Only through judgment and skill, exercised cooperatively throughout the entire project, are we able to do the right things at the right times to effectively test our products.

Context is defined as conditions and circumstances that are relevant to an event or simply as case-to-case basis. Context-Driven is situational that deals on possible responses given a certain scenario. It is a paradigm that deals on a set of values and way of thinking to address the situation at hand. By principle, the concept of best practices is only theoretical. When evaluated, these are still good practices that can be considerably applied. These practices should not be limited as it is so as to pave way for improvement. Derive lessons learned from experience. Select the practices that are suitable for implementation. It is not reinventing the wheel but shifting gears in accordance to parameters at hand. Remember, there is no single solution that can be applied at all cases.

An Example:

Consider two projects:

One is developing the control software for an airplane. What "correct behavior" means is a highly technical and mathematical subject. FAA regulations must be followed. Anything you do – or don't do – would be evidence in a lawsuit 20 years from now. The development staff shares an engineering culture that values caution, precision, repeatability, and double-checking everyone's work.

Another project is developing a word processor that is to be used over the web. "Correct behavior" is whatever woos a vast and inarticulate audience of Microsoft Word users over to your software. There are no regulatory requirements that matter (other than those governing public stock offerings). Time to market matters – 20 months from now, it will all be over, for good or ill. The development staff decidedly does not come from an engineering culture, and attempts to talk in a way normal for the first culture will cause them to refer to you as "damage to be routed around."

Testing practices appropriate to the first project will fail in the second.

Practices appropriate to the second project would be criminally negligent in the first.

Source: http://www.context-driven-testing.com/

Rommie L. Patricio
Research and Development Manager
CheQ Systems, Inc.