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