Unlike conventional software testing
approaches, exploratory testing does not require QA professionals to design and
write test cases in advance. While performing exploratory testing, testers can
design and execute test scripts simultaneously. The primary objective of this
software testing approach is to make QA professional more productive by
allowing them to discover, investigate, and learn.
Exploratory testing requires testers to
focus on test execution instead of test planning. It further allows testers to
find the bugs or defects in a software application based on their imagination.
Hence, the QA professionals find exploratory testing more flexible than
conventional software testing approaches. There are also a number of reasons
why many enterprises switch from conventional software testing approaches to
exploratory testing.
Understanding
Important Aspects of Exploratory Testing
Identify More Bugs and Defects
Exploratory testing emphasizes of test
execution instead of test planning. It allows testers to write and execute
tests at a time. Also, the testing approach requires testers to find defects in
software using their analytical skills and deductive reasoning. Hence, it
becomes easier for testers to find more bugs or defects in the software which
are ignored by conventional software testing techniques.
Speedup Testing Process
Exploratory testing unifies two
distinct processes – test scenario designing and test scenario execution. It
allows testers to design and run test scenarios simultaneously. The absence of
test planning makes it easier for testers to focus extensively on test case
execution. Also, the unification of test scenarios designing and execution
processes reduces testing time significantly.
Involves Investigation Process
Exploratory testing enables QA
professionals to find bugs in a software application using their analytical and
deductive reasoning skills. The testers also have option to investigate the
software/system thoroughly. The investigation options will help testing
professionals to find more defects or bugs in the software based on their
imagination.
No Need to Divide Testing Activity
The script-based testing approaches
require enterprises to deploy test-designers to design the test cases, and
testers to execute the test cases. Hence, the managers have to divide the
software testing activities based on the role and responsibilities of
individual QA professionals. As exploratory testing allows testers to design
and execute test cases simultaneously, the manager is not required to divide
the software testing activities. Also, an enterprise can carry out all software
testing activities smoothly without deploying experienced test-designers.
Enhance Test Coverage
Exploratory testing enables testers to
perform all tests required to evaluate the software thoroughly. The testing
approach further covers varying test cases and scenarios. Hence, it becomes
easier for testers to cover all business requirements and test all components
of the software. Also, they can execute the test cases efficiently when the
requirement documents are unavailable or incomplete.
Accommodate Changes and Requirements
Exploratory testing does not require
testers to design test cases in advance. Hence, the testers can easily enhance
test coverage by designing additional test scenarios. Also, they can easily
test the changes made to the software or system by designing and executing new
test cases simultaneously. Hence, exploratory testing enables QA professionals
to perform the tests in a flexible way and produce more reliable test results.
Accommodate New Ideas
Exploratory testing allows each tester
to analyze a problem in a different way. Hence, the testers can suggest new
ideas to test a particular feature or functionality of the software. The
testing approach enables the testing team to test a single software application
in a number of ways by accommodating individual testing approaches. At the same
time, the testers can easily accommodate new ideas while designing and
executing test cases.
Make Testers Productive
Unlike conventional software testing
techniques, exploratory testing enables testers to use their analytical and
reasoning skills. The absence of pre-defined test cases further keeps the
testers motivated and interested. A tester also has option to expand his imagination
and enhance productivity by executing more test cases.
Usage
Unlike conventional testing approaches,
exploratory testing enables enterprises to accelerate testing activities and
reduce overall testing time. Hence, an organization can consider using
exploratory testing to perform all tests in a short amount of time. Likewise,
it can also use the testing approach to test a software application based on
incomplete requirements or minimal documents. Also, an enterprise can adopt
exploratory testing to test the software in early phases of software
development lifecycle.
Shortcomings
Like other software testing approaches,
exploratory testing also has its shortcomings. For instance, the absence of
test planning makes it difficult for manager to keep the testing process
organized. Also, the quality exploratory testing results directly depend on the
domain knowledge, skill, and imagination of testers. Many enterprises even find
exploratory testing unbefitting for test cases with longer execution time.
On the whole, exploratory testing makes
software testing process more flexible and Software
QA testers more
productive. It further enables testers to focus extensively on test execution, and
find defects in the software based on their imagination. Hence, the testing
professionals can perform exploratory testing to test the software on the fly.
No comments:
Post a Comment