Okuzeka
Product Management vocabulary · Requirements & User Stories

Edge case

Meaning in product management, with examples

nounCommon term

In product management, edge case means: An unusual situation that happens only at the extreme limits of normal use, such as an empty list, a very long name or a lost connection during payment.

In Turkish: uç durum, sınır durum, istisnai durum

How it is used

PMs, designers, engineers and testers discuss edge cases while writing requirements and acceptance criteria. Missed edge cases often turn into bugs after launch. Common phrases: handle an edge case, cover edge cases, it's just an edge case.

Example sentences

  1. What happens in the edge case where two people edit the same order at once?

  2. It's an edge case, but it affects our biggest customer, so we need to fix it.

Common collocations

  • handle edge cases
  • cover edge cases
  • rare edge case
  • edge case testing
  • acceptance criteriaThe specific conditions a user story must meet before the team and the product owner accept it as finished and working correctly.
  • requirementSomething a product or feature must do, or a condition it must meet, written down so that the team agrees on what to build.
  • use caseA specific situation in which someone uses a product to reach a goal, described step by step or as a short scenario.
  • specShort for specification: a document that describes in detail how a feature should look and behave, so that designers and engineers can build it correctly.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Requirements & User Stories

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: