Experimenting in Context for

Exploratory TestingMaaret Pyhäjärvi

Email: <maaret@iki.fi> | Twitter: maaretp

Replacing a test-case-driven style with a

learning-tester-driven style in

two organizations

What Testing Gives UsUn

it Te

stin

g

Expl

orat

ory

Test

ing

SPECFEEDBACKREGRESSIONGRANULARITY

GUIDANCEUNDERSTANDING

MODELSSERENDIPITYTesting as

artifact creation

Testing as performan

ce

Givens. Some things you can’t change (yet)

Experiments. Try changing something!

Finding the appropriate stretch

Case 1.

Data-intensive application

Givens. Things I could not change.

• Waterfall process. • Contractual distance between

acceptance testers and subcontractor.

• Test-case metric based reporting.• I manage, I don’t test. • Business end users as testers.

Experiments. Things I changed.• Acceptance tester degree of

freedom.• Test cases from step-by-step scripts

to test data with process outline for notes.

• Making “change requests” acceptable.

• Reporting ~20% of testing to 3rd party.

• Inofficial tips sharing sessions with the subcontractor.

Finding the appropriate stretch

Case II.

Function-intensive application

Givens. Things I could not change.

• Roadmapping creating disconnect to current priorities.

• Tendency for remote work.• Developers doing majority of testing. • Requirements / Specifications format

as UI spec

Experiments. Things I changed.• No test cases or wasteful

documentation.• Tester with developer tools. • Removing “acceptance testing” by

moving testing to the team.• Continuous delivery (without test

automation).• Holding space for testing to happen. • True teamwork with mob programming.

Framework of Management

”A day’s work”

Vision (“Sandbox”) Current Charter

Other Charters Details

Bug Reports

Perception of quality

and coverage

Quality ReportDebriefin

g

Tester

Test Manager

PastResultsObstaclesOutlookFeelings

?#

xCharter backlog of the future testing

Out of budget

Next in importanc

e!#, ?, x, +20:20:60

Session sheets of the past testing

Idea of explorati

on

Metrics summa

ry

Coaching

Playbooks

Thank you.

@maaretp(please connect with me

through Twitter or LinkedIn)