Exploratory testing workshop

Exploratory Testing Workshop
Parts of this class have been excerpted from:
Rapid Software Testing, by James Bach, james@satisfice.com
Black Box Software Testing, by CemKaner, kaner@kaner.com
Name: Anne-Marie Charrett
E-mail: amcharrett@testingtimes.ie
WEB: www.testingtimes.ie
Phone: 085 289 6263

Exploratory testing is an approach to software testing ….
described as
simultaneous learning,
test design
and test execution.

tester's responsibility for managing his or her time
cognitive engagement of the tester

Exercise

Observation
Be aware of what you are looking out for
Watch out for the assumptions you make
Your “idea” or “model” of your what you’re testing often determines
What you decide to test
What you decide is a bug
Remember. We are all biased!

Tester Mindset
Curious
Skeptical
Self Management
Communication
Observant

Tunnel Vision Trap
Bias limits the number of bugs you find
Diversify your strategy

Context Trap
What is your mission?
Who are your stakeholders?

Quantity Trap
Too Little
Too Much
Just Right

Generic Risk List
Complex Anything disporportionality large, intricate or convoluted
New Anything that has no history in the product
Changed Anything that has been tampered or "improved"
Upsteam Dependency Anything whose failure will cause cascading failures in the rest of the system
Downstream Dependency Anything that is especially sensitive to failures in the rest of the system
Critical Anything whose failure could cause substantial damage
Precise Anything that must meet requirements exactly
Strategic Anything that has special importance to your business, such as a feature that sets you apart from the competition
Third-Party Anything used in the product, but developed outside of the project
Distributed Anything spread out in time or space, yet whose elements must work together
Buggy Anything known to have lots of problems
Recent Failure Anything with a recent history of failure
Focus

How do we choose where to look?
How do we see what is NOT there?
Depends a lot on our choice of Model
Input Output
State Machine
Event Driven Behavior
Requirements
Functionality
Data Driven
Modeling Trap
Diversify

Tilted Twister
This is a mind storm Tilted Twister
It solves Rubix Cubes
It consists of software and hardware
I will be video recording this
I want you to use exploratory testing to test it

Mission: Tilted Twister Data
Project Manager: A client requested a rubix cube solver, the developers gone on holiday. I want you to test this, before the client turns up.
Find Top 5 Issues in the next 20 mins
Any questions?

Turbo Twister Instructions
Orange Button = Select
Light Grey Buttons – Move through options
Dark Grey – Back or Exit
My Files->Software Files->Tilted Twister

Problems Found
Cannot detect colour differences
Motor arm overshoots
Hard to know how to turn it on
Calibration Rubix cube is too big
Takes to long to work out solution & then runs out of memory

Debrief
What was your mission?
What problems did you find?
How did you know they were problems?
How did you find them?
What questions did you ask?
Can you report credibly?
Did you need more time?

Need Exploratory Testing and Automation
Developer needs to adapt & learn tester mindset for:
TDD
Unit Testing
ET thinking in developing automated tests.
Exploratory Testers need Testability

Tips & Tricks To Test Effectively
Know your mission, stakeholders
Too much, Too little, Just Right
Focus – Defocus
Boundary Testing
Pair Testing
Scenario Testing
Negative Testing
Caricatures
20

Follow up
Mind Map of Heuristics
Hand Out
Email me: amcharrett@testingtimes.ie
FREE Online Coaching – skype: charretts

Exploratory testing workshop

by Anne-Marie Charrett on Oct 15, 2010

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Exploratory testing workshop — Presentation Transcript