Out of box failure

Out of box failure (OBF or OOBF) is a negative experience a user has when installing and/or performing initial configuration on a piece of hardware that exhibits an immediate failure mode.

Definitions

OBF is a take on a common quality analysis of an out-of-box experience of the electronics and personal computer industries (e.g. Windows Vista's initial release). When a system has a major defect that prevents (or severely restricts) use in a way that is immediately apparent, the user experience is negative.

Causes

Out-of-box failures are typically caused by the following issues:

1. Faulty components that were used in the product but not detected by quality assurance
   
2. Storage induced failures, such as oxidation in high humidity environments
   
3. Transportation induced failures, such as vibration induced looseness in connectors
   
4. Configuration induced failures, for systems configured to customer specifications, but where the configuration of parts is incompatible
   
5. Customer induced failures, from improper setup of the unit

See also

• Out-of-box experience

References