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A TASTE OF EXPLORATORY TESTING
Anne-Marie Charrett@charrett
Skype: Charretts Blog: Mavericktester.com
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license,
visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/.
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IRISH CREDENTIALS
• Born in St Michaels Dun Laoghaire
• Lived in Dublin and Leixlip (officially Co.Kildare)
• Studied at Kevin Street, DIT
•Worked for EOLAS, Government Standards Body
• Holidays, in County Kerry.
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UNPREDICTABLE CLIMATE
• “When all is said and done, the weather and love are the two elements about which one can never be sure.” Alice Hoffman
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copyright ©TestingTimes 2013IMPROVISATION
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CONCLUSION
IRISH MAKE THE BEST TESTERS
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A TASTE OF EXPLORATORY TESTING
Anne-Marie Charrett
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TEST COIN FLIP FREE
Any questions?
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DISCUSSION
•What bugs did you find?
•What do you do ?
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BUGS
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WHAT DID YOU DO?
• Played around
• Tried out different things
• Figured out how it worked
• Saw something unusual - looked more
• Read up the information (on Website)
• Compared your findings
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SCRIPTED TESTING
Requires a tester to be able to:
Often has formalised methodology based on IEEE829
Design Test Scripts upfront against Requirements
Requires Experienced Test Analyst Vs Tester
Indicate Expected Result upfront
Complete when 100% Test Executed
Aims to be repeatable
Agile - > automated checking
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Test Strategy Test Spec Test Execution
Analysis
Documents
Design Testing
Activities
SCRIPTED TESTING
Test Report
Strategy
Modelling
Decision Making
ModellingConfiguration
OperationObservationEvaluation
Configuration
Reporting
OperationObservationEvaluation Communicationcopyright ©TestingTimes 2013
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“Exploratory testing is an approach to software testing that is concisely described as simultaneous learning, test design and
test execution.” Cem Kaner
“The plainest definition of exploratory testing is test design and test execution at the same time.” J. Bach
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SIMULTANEOUS
Learning
Design
Execution
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Activities
EXPLORATORY TESTING
Modelling
Decision Making
Configuration
Operation
Observation
Evaluation
Learning
Testing
Design
Strategy
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TESTER CENTRIC
DesignTesting
Learning
AutodidacticSelf Awareness
AutonomyResponsibility
Courage
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MYTH #1
Exploratory Testing is unstructured
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copyright ©TestingTimes 2013 Jason Darge
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PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES
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• Explicit
• Repeatable
• Context less important
• Knowledge but not skill
ALGORITHMS
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Heuristics
A heuristic is a fallible method of solving a problem or making a decision.
• Requires Skill
• Context Dependent
• Less Visible
PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES
The essence of heuristics: http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/462
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EXPLORATORY TESTING HEURISTICS
• FEW HICCUPS (Ways to Recognise Bugs) - Michael Bolton
• SFDIPOT (Ways to Model and generate test ideas) - James Bach
• Heuristic Test Strategy Model - James Bach
• http://www.qualityperspectives.ca/resources_mnemonics.html
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MYTH #2
You can’t use documents in Exploratory Testing
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IS DOCUMENT A DIRTY WORD IN EXPLORATORY
TESTING?
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Documents are great for?
Reflective Tool
Keeping Track of what we do
Sharing Information with Others
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REPORTING
• Bug Reports
• Test Reports
• Mind Maps
• Wiki
• Conversations
• MiPs
• Charters and SBTM
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J Bach
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SBTM
• Session is the basic testing work unit
• Each session is chartered
• ~ 90 minutes
• Debrief
Read about it here: http://www.satisfice.com/sbtm/
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SESSION SHEET FORMAT• Session charter (includes a mission statement, and
areas to be tested)
• Tester name(s)
• Date and time started
• Task breakdown
• Data files
• Test notes
• Issues
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What value
am I offering by
documenting this?
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• Challenge Documentation
•On the Light side
• Begin by Thinking, then read
•Where possible, speak
• End by date ? (best before date)
• Byproducts not end results (its not an end its a means)
COBWEB
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QUESTIONS?
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THANK YOU!
[email protected] @charrett
Skype: charretts