Area of effect models the influence produced by the relationship among a person, their abilities, and the tools they use. Testing reach grows when tools expand human abilities without replacing human direction. Human judgment alone remains limited by time, attention, and biases; tools alone lack a meaningful center unless they deliver useful feedback to people. section 1.2.2
Use the model to keep testing work balanced:
- Identify where an LLM can extend testing ability rather than deferring the entire task to it. section 1.2.2
- Keep a person responsible for direction and for extracting value from tool-generated feedback. section 1.2.2
File upload testing
For a secure legal-document upload feature, the acceptance criteria specify PDF, DOCX, and TXT support, a 20MB limit, progress updates, initial uploader-only access, and audit reporting. An LLM may assist with generating tests, but the tester must direct the work and judge whether the results address these criteria. section 1.2.2
Figure 1.2 An outline of how tools enhance and extend the reach of testing
Use the figure to visualize how tools enhance and extend testing reach while keeping human ability at the center. section 1.2.2
