How do you stress test a system with human factors?

1 What are human factors?

Human factors are the psychological, social, and behavioral aspects that influence how people use, manage, and affect a system. For example, human factors can determine how users perceive the system's usability, functionality, and quality, how operators monitor and control the system's performance and availability, how administrators configure and maintain the system's security and scalability, and how attackers exploit the system's weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Human factors can also affect how people respond to stress situations, such as errors, failures, or emergencies, and how they cope with the system's recovery and restoration.

2 Why are human factors important for stress testing?

Human factors are important for stress testing because they can introduce additional sources of variability, uncertainty, and complexity to the system's behavior and performance. For instance, human factors can affect the system's workload, demand, and usage patterns, which can vary depending on the user's needs, preferences, expectations, and emotions. Human factors can also affect the system's operation, management, and protection, which can depend on the operator's skills, knowledge, experience, and judgment. Human factors can also affect the system's exposure, risk, and resilience, which can depend on the administrator's policies, procedures, and practices. Human factors can also affect the system's vulnerability, threat, and impact, which can depend on the attacker's motives, methods, and capabilities.

3 How to identify human factors for stress testing?

To identify human factors for stress testing, you need to analyze the system's context, stakeholders, and scenarios. The system's context refers to the environment, conditions, and constraints that shape the system's behavior and performance. The system's stakeholders refer to the people who interact with or influence the system in some way, such as users, operators, administrators, and attackers. The system's scenarios refer to the situations, events, and actions that trigger or result from the system's behavior and performance. By analyzing these elements, you can identify the human factors that are relevant, significant, and realistic for stress testing.

4 How to design human factors for stress testing?

To design human factors for stress testing, you need to define the system's objectives, metrics, and criteria. The system's objectives refer to the expected outcomes or goals of the system under stress, such as availability, reliability, security, or usability. The system's metrics refer to the measurable indicators or parameters of the system's behavior and performance under stress, such as response time, throughput, error rate, or satisfaction. The system's criteria refer to the acceptable or desirable levels or ranges of the system's metrics under stress, such as thresholds, limits, or benchmarks. By defining these elements, you can design the human factors that are measurable, comparable, and verifiable for stress testing.

5 How to implement human factors for stress testing?

To implement human factors for stress testing, you need to select the system's tools, methods, and techniques. The system's tools refer to the software or hardware components that enable or facilitate the system's behavior and performance under stress, such as load generators, monitors, analyzers, or simulators. The system's methods refer to the strategies or approaches that guide or direct the system's behavior and performance under stress, such as load models, test cases, test scripts, or test scenarios. The system's techniques refer to the tactics or practices that manipulate or influence the system's behavior and performance under stress, such as load profiles, load patterns, load variations, or load injections. By selecting these elements, you can implement the human factors that are controllable, adaptable, and repeatable for stress testing.

6 How to evaluate human factors for stress testing?

To evaluate human factors for stress testing, you need to collect the system's data, results, and feedback. The system's data refer to the raw or processed information that reflects or represents the system's behavior and performance under stress, such as logs, traces, reports, or graphs. The system's results refer to the outcomes or conclusions that derive or emerge from the system's data under stress, such as findings, insights, issues, or recommendations. The system's feedback refer to the opinions or perceptions that express or communicate the system's results under stress, such as ratings, comments, reviews, or suggestions. By collecting these elements, you can evaluate the human factors that are meaningful, actionable, and improvable for stress testing.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?