Exploratory Testing, notes and an awesome Google TechTalk video.
The other day during the Sprint Planning Meeting people asked why I wanted a task against a low risk area to perform manual testing. I should have called this exploratory testing. After the meeting I had to take some notes to make sure that I’d be able to give an explanation for the task estimate when we got around to the Retrospective
What is exploratory testing?
Exploratory testing is an approach in software testing with simultaneous learning, test design and test execution. While the software is being tested, the tester learns things that together with experience and creativity generates new good tests to run.
There is a great Google Tech Talks video about exploratory testing given by Jon Bach, watch it if you’ve got the time. I’d recommend having the slides open as you watch because they are a bit blurry in the video. Get them here under Dynamics of Exploratory Testing.
The best slide in the deck is this mnemonic for remembering the skill set used during exploratory testing:
Watch the video, i think you’ll like it.
Hi, I tried to get the slides but they are no longer there does anybody out there have them somewhere I can get them. Thanks. Michael
The slides are now available at: http://www.quardev.com/articles