What are the criteria that distinguish a symptom from a cause when executing a test?
This question addresses the topic of root cause analysis. Distinguishing the symptom from a cause allows the test engineer to identify the issue that needs to be addressed. Once the appropriate root cause has been determined, the development team can begin to resolve it. Once the issue is resolved and the software is retested, the symptom should disappear, indicating that the cause has been addressed and resolved.
"The key element that distinguishes a symptom from a cause is that the symptom indicates that a problem exists, and the cause creates the issue that generated the symptom. Addressing the symptom will not fix the cause while fixing the cause will eliminate the symptom. By using the symptom to identify the root cause, I can make recommendations to the development team on how the root cause can be corrected."
