Spoken script
Imagine a training system with two features. One sends an email reminding you that training expires next week. The other tells the manufacturing system whether you are allowed to start a task.
Both features use training data, but ask what happens if each fails.
If the email is late, a supervisor’s overdue review and the manufacturing eligibility check may still prevent the operational problem. If the eligibility message is wrong, an operator with expired training may be allowed to start work.
That difference should affect the questions we ask and the evidence we collect.
For the reminder, we may check timing, recipients, and the information displayed. For eligibility, we need to examine identity mapping, expiry rules, time boundaries, missing responses, overrides, and what the receiving manufacturing system actually does.
Now change one assumption. Suppose the reminder email is the only control anyone uses before work starts. It is no longer just a convenience. Our assessment must follow that actual reliance.
The lesson is simple: do not assign the entire application one label and stop thinking. Describe each meaningful use, its failures, its dependencies, and the controls that matter.
On-screen example
| Reminder | Eligibility interface |
|---|---|
| Prompts renewal | Controls task start |
| Check recipient and timing | Check expiry, identity, response, and receiving action |
| Importance depends on other controls | Importance depends on operational reliance |
Viewer exercise
Choose a dashboard from your work. What action does someone take because of it? The answer may change how you assess that dashboard.