A Brief Introduction about Exploratory Testing

What is Exploratory Testing?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Exploratory testing is a type of software testing that is performed to establish the product’s feasibility. The test design and test execution are performed in parallel without formally documenting the test scripts, test cases, or test conditions. Test engineers write a test idea to have a sense of what they are looking for and start exploring the website. Testers make spontaneous decisions of what features and actions to test, therefore reflecting the individual interests of end-users. It is a formal testing process where we don’t have any test scripts or test planning documentation to test the software. Instead, testers identify the functionality of the software by exploring the application, learning the application, and executing the test plans.

When to use Exploratory Testing?

1. In the early stages of the software development life cycle when the code undergoes instant changes, exploratory testing can be productive.
2. To understand how the website works, what functionality it executes, and how its interface looks like.
3. The developers can use this approach to perform unit testing while the testers can acquire familiarity with the application using it.
4. The experience gained from exploratory testing can be valuable in preparing test cases and doing additional testing in the later stages of the software development life cycle.
5. While doing exploratory testing, test plans are developed on the fly which saves much time for the test engineers. At the end of the scrum cycle, exploratory tests can be captured for subsequent scrums.

How to do exploratory testing?

1. It utilizes the tester’s ability to learn something by themselves to do testing
2. Test case preparation and execution are performed simultaneously
3. It is based on the observations of the tester, the test cases keep growing
4. The tester incorporates their learning into the test
5. Exploratory testing doesn’t use test automation, instead, it focuses on the tester’s experience, observation, and knowledge
6. In order to maintain focus, it can be session-based which provides a structure
7. Test engineers can apply their ideas and never get lost from their mission

Types of Exploratory Testing

1. Freestyle: In freestyle testing, there is no maximum coverage and we did not follow any rules so we will explore the application just like Adhoc testing. If we want to get friendly with the software application and analyze the other test engineer's works, we can use freestyle exploratory testing.

2. Strategy-Based: It can be done with the help of multiple testing techniques such as boundary value, risk-based analysis, and equivalence partitioning. It is performed by the experienced tester and who is using the application for the longest time.

3. Scenario-Based: It is performed with the help of different scenarios such as test scenarios, end-to-end, and real user scenarios. The tester can find defects and also verify the various sets of possibilities for the various scenarios with their application knowledge while they were exploring the software.

Advantages

1. It requires less preparation and major bugs are found quickly
2. It can be utilized to review the work performed by another tester
3. In the case of minimum time, exploratory testing can be used to test new features of the application while regression testing can be used for existing features.
4. Exploratory testing can find defects that may have been missed in the test cases

Disadvantages

1. As the test cases are performed randomly, they can’t be reviewed in advance and it can be difficult to show which tests have to be run.
2. Testing is dependent on skills, experience, and the tester’s knowledge.
3. Gaining familiarity with software takes time, so there is a possibility of defects being missed if the tester has lack of knowledge of the application.