Adhoc Testing: A Complete Guide

If you are engaged in software development or QA, you have probably heard about Adhoc testing. However, if you have never used it in practice, you may have quite a few questions and concerns regarding it. In this article, our QA company is going to share the experience and knowledge we have regarding Adhoc testing with you!

What Is Adhoc Testing?

Before giving a comprehensive ad hoc testing definition, let’s dwell on two types of testing approaches to help you grasp the idea behind Adhoc testing:

1. Structured – this approach assumes that every step of the testing process (from the creation of test cases to their execution) is scripted. Thus, structured testing requires QA specialists to follow the given script while testing the product.
2. Unstructured – this form of testing, on the contrary, doesn’t require a script. It is usually done through error guessing, while the specific test cases are being created not in advance, but right in the process of testing.

Now, when you have a general idea of these two approaches, we can get back to Adhoc testing. This is the most informal type of testing and a clear example of the unstructured approach. Thus, it doesn’t require an organized plan, test case creation, or testing documentation to start the process.

Types Of Adhoc Testing

Although Adhoc testing is informal and doesn’t follow a specific plan, several different Adhoc testing scenarios are commonly used. Let’s take a close look at each of them:

1. Monkey Testing
This Adhoc testing example assumes a complete lack of test cases. In this case, the product is being tested randomly with a goal to break the system.

2. Buddy Testing
The next type requires the close cooperation of two specialists (as a rule, an expert from the development team and someone from the testing team) for identifying errors in the same module. As a rule, this type of testing is conducted after Unit Testing was performed. Thanks to the close collaboration of two specialists from different teams, Buddy testing helps the QA team to detect uncommon errors and also enables the development team to apply design changes at the early stages.

3. Pair Testing
The last type of Adhoc testing also requires the collaboration of two specialists. However, unlike Buddy testing, this one is performed by two specialists from the testing team who have different levels of knowledge. Two QA engineers are assigned modules, they work mutually and share their ideas to identify defects. In this scenario, two QA specialists usually have different roles, for example, one is performing tests while another one is taking notes.

Objectives And Methods

As was already mentioned earlier, Adhoc tests are performed randomly without any requirements, formal procedure, or expected results. In such a scenario, test cases are created gradually through error guessing.

Each step in the process of Adhoc testing is being improvised. Therefore, it is impossible to outline a general pattern or specific methods used during this kind of test. Thus, the success of this type of testing depends solely on the QA engineer’s knowledge of the product, creativity, tenacity, and maybe a bit of luck as well.

The main role of Adhoc testing in software testing is to detect uncommon flaws in the product that couldn’t be found in the regular testing process that requires following specific test cases written in advance.

The key mission of QA specialists here is to figure out the potential areas that might include errors. As a rule, this is done by guessing the possible areas of errors based on QA engineer’s previous experience. However, it is not as easy as it may sound. As a matter of fact, conducting this type of testing requires a QA specialist to have a solid, thorough knowledge of the software that he is going to test. A specialist should have a clear understanding of the product’s functionality in order to make reasonable assumptions on the areas that might contain defects.

What Are The Main Pros Of Adhoc Testing?

QA specialists use this approach due to numerous reasons. So, what makes it so good, and what pros it has? Let’s figure this out!

Our team has numerously engaged in all different types of testing, including Adcoh testing. Based on our experience, we can outline the two major benefits of this method.

First of all, it can save you quite a lot of time. Compared to other types of testing, Adhoc is faster since it doesn’t require creating test cases and testing documentation, which takes time. Engaging in Adhoc testing, you pretty much skip these steps and can dive into the testing process right away. However, it only works this way if a QA engineer has in-depth knowledge of the product, what it does and how it works. Otherwise, lacking knowledge about the software, engaging in Adhoc testing does not make sense at all.

Secondly, this method allows the manufacturer itself or QA testing service to find quite interesting errors that normally can’t be found when testers have to follow prior written test cases.

The Bottom Line

Being the most informal type of testing, Adhoc, without any doubt, has a purpose. The absence of documentation, planning, and test case design saves a lot of time. Besides, as was already mentioned, this type of testing allows detecting even more defects than you could find in the course of planned testing. Therefore, despite the randomness and informality of this testing method, ad hoc in software engineering plays an important role and deserves to be a part of the overall testing process.

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