Exploratory Testing in an Agile World

The software development landscape is highly competitive. To satisfy escalating customer expectations, it is vital for teams to regularly deliver high-quality digital experiences. While speed to market is crucial, there are times when defects or basic user experience disasters can be detrimental. There are numerous examples of reputational and financial harm caused by a rush to meet a deadline and poor-quality software manual testing services.

Fortunately, teams that adopt Agile work in a flow-based environment to create and release superior business capabilities quickly with an emphasis on collaboration and adaptability. And so, exploratory testing services in Agile are popular because it allows testers to go beyond prescribed testing as testers are encouraged to take a more freestyle approach to their work, experimenting with the product as part of the testing process. This method of learning and testing at the same time is extremely effective.

Exploratory Testing: Definition

Exploratory testing relies on the tester’s ability to think beyond the limitations of predefined tests. Using this manual software testing technique, testers can execute checkups immediately, document the results, and utilize the information to create subsequent tests. Although this method takes longer than scripted tests, it is encouraged as part of a thorough test coverage approach by testers and QA managers.

The Difference Between Exploratory and Ad-hoc Testing

Ad-hoc testing is often used synonymously with exploratory testing. However, there is a distinction between the two. Knowing the difference will save you from any misunderstandings and potential time-wasting.

Ad-hoc testing is a casual, free-form type of software testing that is unstructured. As a result, there are no rules, goals, or defined strategy, so the efficiency of such testing is entirely dependent on the tester’s level of experience. It’s easy to overlook the fact that ad-hoc testing is tough to handle without any standards, and the lack of documentation often implies that any faults detected will be difficult to recreate as well.

Exploratory testing combines the flexibility of ad-hoc testing but with a structured approach. Testers document test cases with a set of objectives but allows the team to think creatively and critically while testing. Thus, it can produce accurate findings and is capable of detecting new challenges in test scenarios.

When to Use Exploratory Testing

Exploratory testing in Agile can assist QA specialists with simultaneous learning, test design, and test execution in a fast-paced environment. It is best used in specific settings, such as when teams don’t have much time to structure the tests, but an early iteration is essential. In this case, exploratory testing is really beneficial.

This testing approach ensures you don’t miss functionality that sits on the periphery of defined test cases that can lead to major quality failures when testing mission-critical applications. Exploratory testing can enhance other testing processes, such as unit testing and UX/UI testing. After documenting additional steps, you can use that information to test extensively in subsequent sprints.

It is very beneficial for expanding test coverage by finding additional test situations to improve desktop, web, and mobile app testing.

Benefits of Exploratory Testing

A systematic technique is used in the majority of software quality testing activities. The test cases are defined based on the user stories that have previously been created. The test data is arranged based on the specified test cases. Software engineering metrics are used to quantify test coverage. And in most circumstances, the coverage is sufficient.

However, edge cases are frequently overlooked. An edge case is an issue or scenario that only happens at the extremes of an operating parameter, whether it’s a maximum or minimum element. Edge cases are discovered through exploratory testing and can uncover bugs that would otherwise go undetected during the structured testing process.

Exploratory testing allows testers to experiment that can lead to creating new test cases and produces data that can help refine automation processes. So, when you detect a bug during exploratory testing, it can be added to an automated test to prevent the issue from recurring. When edge cases are detected, teams can quickly respond and adapt to changes to promote an Agile workflow.

As a result, exploratory testing expedites documentation, facilitates unit testing, and aids in the initiation of an immediate feedback loop. It also promotes real-time creative thinking.

Challenges QA Engineers Can Face

Exploratory testing and scripted testing should be balanced. Exploratory testing doesn’t provide complete coverage as the only form of testing, but it can be employed once a few key milestones are achieved.

Measuring the benefits of exploratory testing can be difficult. The goals are to uncover problems that have eluded previous types of testing and to record previously undocumented test scenarios and expand coverage while intuitively exploring.

Furthermore, it is a highly skilled testing approach that necessitates the preparation and execution of experienced software testers. Finding the edge cases necessitates some creativity and outside-the-box thinking on the part of the tester.

Tips & Best Practices

The more lines you add to your code, the more testing you’ll need to ensure that everything functions properly. To make this happen, automation is essential, and writing tests will eventually become a part of your development process. So, the question is whether manual testing is still worthwhile. The simple answer is yes, and it should be focused on exploratory testing, which aims to find mistakes that aren’t immediately apparent.

• Have a clear scope that allows you to concentrate on a specific aspect of the program that diverts from standard usage patterns. It is up to software testers to try out various actions to identify flaws and verify complex user workflows. It’s especially important to do this if your application has new capabilities, as it will assist you in understanding how it responds to edge case scenarios.
• Plan the exploratory test without scripting them. If you’re following a script, you’re not doing exploratory testing. But it does not imply a lack of control. During the test when you uncover anomalies, retain a clear record of what you did, how you did it, and what you learned.

Conclusion

Exploratory testing in Agile relies on intuition and experience and is a continuous effort. It is a strategy to be used throughout the project’s lifecycle, not just during the development phase. Establish your exploratory testing techniques within the team based on a defined scope around process and timelines. It is also important to ensure an application supports exploratory testing, in that segments can be tested as early as possible from start to finish.

Exploratory testing highlights a QA specialist’s personal autonomy and responsibility. Scripted testing begins with the creation of test cases and ends with the execution of the tests in a defined order. Exploratory testing involves both test design and execution at the same time and it is commonly employed in Agile models with focus on exploration, discovery, and learning.