The document discusses exploratory testing and the role of testers. It notes that testers help break illusions about code by providing feedback on quality. Effective testing requires dynamically adapting for limited budgets, expecting the unexpected, and realizing not all bugs are equal. Testing can be viewed as either the creation of artifacts or as active exploration and performance. The document advocates for exploratory testing in mobs and pairs.

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Exploratory Testing
Explained and
Experienced
by Maaret Pyhäjärvi

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TESTING IS ABOUT
FEEDBACK:
QUALITY-RELATED
INFORMATION

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Testers don’t break
the code, they break
your illusions about
the code.
- Adapted from James Bach

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Realizations on Nature of Testing
20
16
1639
5±2
4

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20DYNAMICALLY ADAPT
FOR LIMITED BUDGET
OPPORTUNITY COST
5

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16 EXPECT THE
UNEXPECTED
6

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1639ROUTES ARE RELEVANT
NOT ALL BUGS ARE EQUAL
7

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5±2TAKE NOTES
CREATE CHECKLISTS
8

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Testing as Performance (Exploring) vs.
Testing as Artifact Creation

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What Testing gives Us
UnitTesting
ExploratoryTesting
SPEC
FEEDBACK
REGRESSION
GRANULARITY
GUIDANCE
UNDERSTANDING
MODELS
SERENDIPITYTesting as
artifact
creation
Testing as
performance

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Product is my external
imagination
I am my developer’s external imagination

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Learning in Layers
A Demonstration of Exploratory Testing

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Teaching Exploratory Testing
in a Mob

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Strong-Style Navigation
“For an idea to go from your
head to the computer it must
go through someone else’s
hands”
*http://llewellynfalco.blogspot.fi/2014/06/llewellyns-strong-style-pairing.html

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Observations
Retrospective
ONE IDEA
PER STICKY
NOTE
CAPITAL
LETTERS
EASY
TO
READ
FEW
WORDS
Lowercase
letters
Don’t write
in cursive
or in biro
Avoid writing too
much on one single
note as it takes a
while for people to
read the whole thing!
• IDEA 1
• IDEA 2
• IDEA 3
≠
≠
≠
≠

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Before
implementing
While
implementing
Before
production
While in
production
Testing as
artifact creation
Testing as
performance
(exploration)
Ways to think of testing peak at different moments with regards to adding a capability
TOTALS
Testing is Everywhere!

18. @maaretp http://maaretp.com
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
Email: maaret@iki.fi
Twitter: @maaretp
Web: maaretp.com
Blog: visible-quality.blogspot.fi
(please connect with me through
Twitter or LinkedIn)