Concepts:
Exploratory Testing
The following statement by James Bach provides an enticing introduction to
Exploratory Testing:
"Exploratory software testing is a powerful and fun approach to testing.
In some situations, it can be orders of magnitude more productive than scripted
testing. I haven't found a tester yet who didn't, at least unconsciously,
perform exploratory testing at one time or another. Yet few of us study this
approach, and it doesn't get much respect in our field. It's high time we
stop the denial, and publicly recognize the exploratory approach for what
it is: scientific thinking in real-time." [BAC01a]
Bach provides a simple definition of the technique as "test design and
test execution at the same time". This technique for testing computer software
does not require significant advanced planning and is tolerant of limited documentation
for the target-of-test. Instead, the technique relies mainly on the skill and
knowledge of the tester to guide the testing, and uses an active feedback loop
to guide an calibrate the effort.
Thought to have first been first defined by Cem Kaner et. al. in "Testing
Computer Software" [KAN99], Exploratory
Testing has been publicized by the work of amongst others, James Bach. Bach
advocates a style of exploratory testing where short sessions of exploration
lasting approximately 90 minutes are briefly planned, undertaken, and results
recorded and reviewed.
We recommend the following resources for further information on Exploratory
Testing:
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