So, when you go out hiking, camping, or even to a store do you stay on one path only to get from point A to B, or do you let yourself peruse, go off course, and explore? I’m all about stopping to look around, getting myself lost, or going down aisles I don’t need anything from and buying crap I don’t need just to see what’s out there or to find a deal. Well, that’s like exploratory testing – checking things out, seeing what’s down this path, or in this aisle, and asking questions while you do so.
At work today exploratory testing actually saved my ass. I was testing a new feature, and wanted to just get a feel for how everything flowed together and explore a bit. By doing so I found something wonky – that taking steps in a certain order crashed the entire app every time. That is definitely not something you want going to production. If I’d been following a very specific test plan, or just functional or integration testing at this point I wouldn’t have found it. I honestly don’t try to hold myself to just one type of testing as I test – I mix and match and do what I feel is best and provides the necessary test coverage. I didn’t always have the confidence to do that, but as I’ve gained more experience I’ve found the confidence and skill to be able to figure out what mash up is best – that’s something that will come to you in time, and with practice. While you’re learning just make sure you have the confidence to ask questions! Don’t worry about not knowing things – worry about not taking the steps needed to learn what you don’t know.
With exploratory testing you want to take some round about ways when going through the product – take a detour, and try to look at it with a fresh pair of eyes. You want to be asking why, and not assuming anything works a certain way. Instead, you want to discover as you go, asking questions as you go along, encouraging you to think in the moment and making notes on your thought process, and letting yourself make decisions in the moment of where to go next. You’ll often has a basic test plan written down with areas to make sure you cover, but it will be very broad and when you exploratory test you’ll dive in and really get to know your product.
