As a software tester, it's basically impossible to test the software you test like a user like, except maybe at the start of your time with a company, when it's still new to you. But I maintain that you can still get close.
I use personas to try and achieve this. In particular, these ones:
- User is a traveller with a different native language
- Very very tired user
- Drunk user
- User with an urgent deadline and no time to read the manual
I then think of something even shorter than test scenarios: goals, which I derive from user stories.
For example, as a user I want to
- Book tickets to the next destination
- Withdraw money from the bank
- Pay for my doctor's appointment
- Arrange accommodation
- Book a museum visit
- Get a week travel pass
Those are your goals.
To achieve these goals, you don't read the code, you don't look at the Figma, and you certainly don't create test steps.
All you, the user, knows, is what is right in front of you, or maybe not even that. You may not understand the language, or the screen may be hazy in front of you. Your fingers might slip. You might press the wrong button by accident.
It's a test of how closely the software follows design patterns, how well it handles errors and mis-steps, how much sense each screen makes, and how logically the steps flow.
In this way, you can take a first pass to find "obvious errors".
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