Testing Flashcards (Updated)

For a few years now I have been posting quality flashcards on LinkedIn, usually one at a time and usually because something had come up in my way that I thought was useful to share with others. Here they all are in one place, rebuilt and updated for 2026 using my latest branding and sorted into four packs covering risk, AI, the craft of quality engineering and the people part of the job.

Feel free to download the cards to use as training material with your team or stick them somewhere you will actually see them as a reminder of the topics that matter. On most of the cards the left hand column is what we want to avoid… the right hand column is what I would do instead.

01. Quality Risk

Ten cards on finding, sizing and owning risk to quality. Where do the risks actually come from, who gets to decide how much risk is acceptable and what can a piece of testing honestly tell you about any of it?

Further reading

Start with the risks, not the method | Why did testing miss this… Because you didn’t set a risk appetite | 100% Tested is not 100% Covered | Not having an Approach causes Problems in Your Testing | Testing Doesn’t Just Happen at the End | Is it really an edge case?

Graphic featuring pink background with bold text that reads 'QUALITY RISK FLASHCARDS', describing ten cards on risk management related to quality. Includes a small illustration of an otter.
Graphic illustrating the concept of assessing quality risk in testing, featuring the question 'Have you identified the risks before choosing how to test?' and two contrasting approaches: 'How First' and 'What First', with bullet points highlighting key differences.
Graphic outlining a test document hierarchy, featuring sections labeled 'Strategy,' 'Approach,' and 'Plan,' each detailing different aspects of the document's focus.
A graphic featuring the text 'Silence is Risk' with a dark background. It discusses the importance of speaking up to reduce miscommunication, contrasting the risks of being silent and the benefits of speaking up.
Graphic comparing implicit and explicit asks in a team context, highlighting definitions and characteristics of each type.
A graphic highlighting the difference between test reports and quality narratives, emphasizing clarity and meaningful decision-making in quality assessment.
Illustration of 'Risk Appetite' concept with two sections: 'No Appetite Set' and 'Appetite Set', listing key points regarding organizational risk tolerance.
A graphic comparing 'Severity' and 'Priority' in quality risk management. The 'Severity' section highlights how serious an issue is, while the 'Priority' section discusses scheduling and capacity considerations.
A graphic titled 'Covered Isn't Tested' comparing 'Covered' and 'Tested' in terms of quality risk. The 'Covered' section lists attributes like passing written tests and having a confirmed percentage, while the 'Tested' section emphasizes going beyond written documentation and discovering unknowns.
Illustration of a concept titled 'Holistic Testing' featuring a pink and black color scheme. The text compares traditional testing phases with a 'shift left and right' approach, emphasizing testing at various stages of development and the importance of quality ownership.
A visual representation discussing the concept of quality in testing versus a holistic perspective. The image features two sections: 'Testing Only' and 'Whole Picture of Quality,' listing key points under each category.

02. AI Hygiene

Seven cards on getting useful work out of AI so that it helps you build better rather than just faster. Prompting deeply enough to be understood, keeping your context fresh, setting the boundaries before an agent starts work and knowing which quality signals are worth watching once delivery picks up pace (I was a sceptic about all this, the old posts are still up to prove it).

Further reading

I was an AI sceptic (and I’ve got the old blog posts to prove it) | Yes you can run exploratory testing with AI | AI readiness radar: Framework for engineering teams | Change Failure Rate and AI Adoption: What Your DORA Dashboard Misses | Quality Engineering with AI | Creating a Playwright framework with AI | Using AI to help teams shift testing left

A pink background featuring the text 'AI HYGIENE FLASHCARDS' in bold black letters, with a subtitle discussing seven cards for improving AI output, accompanied by a small illustration of an otter.
A graphic comparing shallow and detailed AI prompting styles. The left side lists characteristics of shallow prompts, while the right side outlines the advantages of detailed prompts, emphasizing clarity and thoroughness.
Infographic highlighting 'AI Context Drift' with contrasting points on 'Stale Context' and 'Fresh Context'.
Graphic detailing agent boundaries in AI hygiene, contrasting open scope and bounded scope with key points listed under each.
Infographic about AI uncertainty, featuring two sections: 'It Assumes' and 'It Tells You', with a focus on how to prompt AI to express uncertainty.
Graphic comparing AI behaviors to a golden retriever and a black cat, highlighting traits such as eagerness to please, risk awareness, and the importance of verifying claims.
A graphic comparing 'One Shot' and 'Botsitting' approaches in AI usage, highlighting the benefits of guiding AI interactions. It features bold text and bullet points outlining key differences between the two methods.
Graphic titled 'Quality Signals for AI' discussing output measures and quality signals. Includes bullet points on measuring AI activity and evaluating trust, coverage, and failure rates.

03. Quality Engineering

Nine cards on the craft itself. What does being technical really mean for a quality specialist, how do we decide what is worth testing and where is the line between confirming what we already know and going to find out what we do not?

Further reading

14 Ways testers can be technical without writing code | Why adhoc testing is not exploratory testing | Setting your own Testing Scope to Work With Uncertainty | In testing context is important | You’re not ready for Quality Engineering | You don’t need so many E2E tests (or do you?) | A Beginners Guide to API Testing

Graphic featuring 'Quality Engineering Flashcards' text on a pink background, with a description of nine cards discussing technical aspects of quality engineering.
A graphic detailing 'Technical Testing Skills' for quality engineering, emphasizing that testing is not just about coding and automation, but requires a variety of skills such as exploratory skills, engineering, marketing, and influencing within the organization.
Title card stating 'Technical Not Just Code' with a subtitle explaining that being technical involves more than just writing automation code, accompanied by lists of skills and activities that are part of being technical.
Graphic highlighting the contrast between talking about theory and taking action in engineering. Left side titled 'Ivory Tower' lists negatives like ineffective communication and untested tools. Right side titled 'Getting Stuck In' outlines positive actions like building frameworks and demonstrating outcomes.
A graphic titled 'Certainty and Discovery' discussing quality engineering concepts. The left side labeled 'Checking' lists points about confirming known information and automation, while the right side labeled 'Exploring' highlights learning unknowns and teamwork in capturing insights.
Quality flashcard comparing 'Prevention' and 'Detection' in quality engineering, highlighting key differences and strategies for addressing defects.
A graphic comparing 'Gold Plating' and 'Good Enough' in quality engineering. It highlights the differences in testing approaches: 'Gold Plating' involves exhaustive, ego-driven testing, while 'Good Enough' focuses on testing based on risk and team needs.
An infographic titled 'Working with Uncertainty' discussing two approaches: 'Waiting to be Told' and 'Setting Scope' in quality engineering. The left side lists drawbacks of waiting for direction, while the right side highlights the benefits of self-directed scope setting.
Infographic comparing Siloed Thinking and Systems Thinking in quality engineering, highlighting the differences and advantages of each approach.
A graphic titled 'NAMING TESTS' emphasizing the importance of naming tests for clarity to humans and AI. It lists guidelines for test naming, divided into two sections: 'FOR THE RUNNER' and 'FOR THE READER', with bullet points outlining key principles for each.

04. Influence

Nine cards on the people part of the job, which is the bit nobody really trains us for. Getting quality owned by a whole team rather than one person, having an opinion that teams actually want to hear and building influence that reaches further than your own squad.

Further reading

Want to be a better Quality Engineer: Lose the Ego | Testers have to be the ones to advocate for quality | Being a good senior tester means having an opinion | Hiring a first QA into a startup: Why you need a senior | How to identify the right senior tester for your new Team / Company | How to Involve Developers in Exploratory Testing | Slow burn: Changing things takes time | Quality Coaching Scenario: No testing happening

An image featuring a pink background with bold black text that reads 'QUALITY INFLUENCE FLASHCARDS' and a subtitle about nine cards on the people part, from losing the ego to hiring a quality engineer, along with a small illustration of an otter.
Graphic promoting a collaborative approach to quality in teams, contrasting 'One Advocate' vs 'Whole Team' philosophies, with key points about ownership, responsibility, and perspectives on quality.
A graphic titled 'What Seniority Is' featuring two sections: 'It's Not Just' and 'It's Also', discussing aspects of seniority in problem-solving, with examples listed in each section.
Graphic comparing 'Ego' and 'Humility' in the context of influence, emphasizing the importance of being useful versus being right.
Graphic comparing the roles of an advisor versus an auditor. The left side lists negative traits of an auditor, while the right side highlights positive attributes of an advisor, emphasizing effective problem-solving and collaboration.
Infographic explaining the concept of 'Opinion from Evidence,' emphasizing that evidence is the foundational element for forming opinions and includes elements like pass/fail counts and critique processes.
Graphic titled 'Influence Everywhere' discussing how to extend influence beyond teams, comparing team-level and every-level strategies with bullet points.
Graphic promoting team coaching in testing, highlighting the importance of growing testers and eliminating bottlenecks. The left section lists issues with the 'Only Testers Test' approach, while the right section emphasizes benefits of 'Coaching the Team.'
Graphic illustrating the trade-off between quality and speed in project management, with headings 'More Speed' and 'More Quality' and key points listed under each category.
Infographic comparing junior and senior first QA hires, highlighting key advantages and responsibilities. Junior hires save on salary but lack guidance, whereas senior hires set their own scope and are generalists who champion their work.

Thanks for reading. If this resonated (or if you think that I’ve got it wrong) there’s more to read on the blog… or get in touch via LinkedIn. I’ll talk quality to anyone who wants to listen!

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