General Overview and Definition:
As companies look for more cost effective and
agile testing methods Exploratory (or Ad Hoc testing) is coming to the fore. I
like James Bach’s definition best: ‘Exploratory testing
is essentially simultaneous learning, test design and test execution.’ The
approach relies on your instinct as a tester and requires a high level view of
the functionality.
However, planning an exploratory testing
session is key. Planning should be high level and based on the key aspects
of the functionality and your testing toolset.
A Software Development House needs to release a
piece of functionality to a client. The client insists that it is tested by the
end of the day, bugs notwithstanding.
This gives you, the tester, and
one working day to test it. For the example this
is 6 hours of test time, with half an hour for planning, and a
further hour to tidy up and ask questions/raise defects.
The functionality is available for test and has
passed initial deployment checks.
The piece of functionality regards
creating an online account with an e-Commerce
site has 7 requirements, split over three functional
areas. This document assumes you have one or the other!
It is recommended that you add a priority
and a size to each requirement or functional area. The priority may or may not
be provided but you can apply your own common sense to the
issue:
|
Functional Area
|
Requirement
|
Priority
|
Size
|
|
Account Details
|
User can add a Username
|
High
|
Medium
|
|
|
User can set a Password
|
High
|
Large
|
|
|
User can set Address Details
|
Medium
|
Medium
|
|
|
User can add a Nickname
|
Low
|
Small
|
|
Add Payment Methods
|
User can add a Credit Card payment method
|
High
|
Large
|
|
|
User can add an e-Wallet payment method
|
Medium
|
Large
|
|
Post Account Creation
|
User is logged in after creating an Account
|
High
|
Small
|
The key is the priority and the size; we can
use this to work out a strategy for allocating time. This is done
subjectively:
|
Requirement
|
Priority
|
Size
|
Percentage of TimeAllocated
|
Time Allocated in Hours
|
|
User can add a Username
|
High
|
Medium
|
15
|
1
|
|
User can set a Password
|
High
|
Large
|
25
|
1.5
|
|
User can add a Credit Card payment method
|
High
|
Large
|
25
|
1.5
|
|
User is logged in after creating an Account
|
High
|
Small
|
10
|
0.6
|
|
User can set Address Details
|
Medium
|
Medium
|
10
|
0.6
|
|
User can add an e-Wallet payment method
|
Medium
|
Large
|
10
|
0.6
|
|
User can add a Nickname
|
Low
|
Small
|
5
|
0.3
|
You now have
a high level plan which communicates the priority order of testing and how much
time this will take. Communicate this to the stakeholders (development team,
project team etc) and you are ready to get started.
Exploratory
Testing – Executing the Plan:
So we have
decided our plan and testing can begin.
The first
requirement is ‘User can add a Username.’ There is an hour allocated for
this.
Obviously
all the requirements for Account Details are linked (you may not be able
to submit an Account Creation Request without some of the other items but
our focus for the session is on the username. ‘Stub’ out the other fields with
values you think should work.
Structure
as follows:
User
Interface – How is the UI presented? Is there
any validation? Any help prompts? Can I interrogate the
CSS,JavaScript, and Flash (if web based)?
Middleware – How does my username get to the DB? Is it a messaging system?
Web service? Does it validate on its way through?
Database/Storage – Where/what is the DB? What are primary keys? Does my username need
to unique? How do the database rules translate to the UI?
As you
generate and execute these high level test ideas, note a sentence that
describes what you have tested (try in a text file it easily communicable and
you don’t need to rewrite them afterwards). Note any defects/questions which
occur under the Test Idea. Do this incrementally as they occur, rather
than storing them up.
Leave
yourself sometime at the end to communicate your coverage of each requirement outwards, clarify any questions,and
decide which of your potential defects need to be logged.
Resources:
Basic
Definition
Key
Aspects of Exploratory Testing
Exploratory vs Experience
Based Testing
Testing
without a Map – when there are no requirements!
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