exploratory testing

Articles

The Two Sides of Testing
Is testing about checking against system requirements, or is it about exploring the software? In this article, Elisabeth Hendrickson explains a valuable truth often clouded by this debate—good testing takes advantage of both of these approaches.
From One Expert to Another: James Bach

In this installment of From One Expert to Another, Jon Bach uses a 20 Questions approach to interview his brother, James Bach, about his reputation, his work as a tester and consultant, his thoughts on the global testing community, and more.

Continuous Integration and Testing
Lisa Crispin explains in this article how CI has become an absolute necessity for any software development team in this day and age. For those who have yet to fully embrace CI, this article gives you some great reasons you should, along with some helpful resources to get you started.
Agile Testing as if People Mattered
As a test professional in waterfall, I was used to getting the code much later and buggier than I expected and being under tremendous pressure to finish my testing before the go-live date hit. Then one day, I found out that there was a better way. Testers could be involved much earlier in the lifecycle, they could participate in requirements and design decisions as they happened, and the code could actually be unit tested before I received it! Heaven? Nope, agile.

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Better Software Magazine

How Much Is Enough?

Exploratory testers design and execute tests in the moment, starting with an open mission and investigating new ideas as they arise. But how do we know when to stop? The first step is to recognize that we can't know when we're done, because any approach to answering the stopping question is necessarily heuristic.

The Truth About Exploratory Testing

Forget what you thought you knew about exploratory testing. Dion Johnson is disturbed by its exploitation by those who wish to escape accountability and forgo up-front planning, but says that exploratory testing and scripted testing can work together to enhance quality practices.

Behind the Screens

Web services can't be tested through manual means, can they? With the right tools they can. Find out how a solid background in exploratory testing and Ruby's scripting language can make it possible.

My Next Mission (And How You Might Benefit from It)

Technical Editor Brian Marick proposes organizing a public effort to test a real software product.

Session-Based Test Management: A Strategy for Structuring Exploratory Testing
Unlike traditional scripted testing, exploratory testing is an ad hoc process. Everything we do is optimized to find bugs fast, so we continually adjust our plans to refocus on the most promising risk areas; we follow hunches; we minimize the time spent on documentation. That leaves us with some problems. For one thing, keeping track of each tester’s progress can be like herding snakes into a burlap bag. Every day I need to know what we tested, what we found, and what our priorities are for further testing.

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Interviews

A Firsthand Agile Transition Success Story: An Interview with Penny Wyatt
In this interview, Penny Wyatt speaks with us ahead of her Agile Development Conference West session, "Transform Your Agile Test Process to Ship Fast with High Quality," to share some of the ways she and her team achieved success, and how they—and you—can continue to develop and grow together.
Exploratory Testing in an Agile World: An Interview with Matt Barcomb
Matt Barcomb works at LeanDog where he is passionate about building collaborative cross-functional teams and finding ways to make the business-software universe a better place to work, play, and do business. Heather Shanholtzer talked to Matt about exploratory testing in an agile project.
The Evolution of Agile: A Conversation with Bob Galen
In this interview with online editor Jonathan Vanian, Bob Galen discusses how agile has influenced testing over the years, the role of a tester in an agile project, and what exactly is “session-based exploratory testing.”

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TechWell Stories
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Removing Waste in Software Projects
Create a Vendor Contract While Keeping Agile
How Agile Teams Use DevOps for Deployment
Build a List of Things—But Don't Call It Agile

Recommended Web Seminars

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Featured Resources

» Skytap Automation Pack for Microsoft VS Team Foundation Server | Skytap
» An Innovative Approach to Integration Testing | IBM Rational
» Improve Quality and Decrease Time to Market with Requirements Management | PTC
» Cloud-Enabled Software Development and Testing | Skytap
» Performance Testing in the Cloud | J9 Technologies

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