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In today’s fast-paced digital world, software quality is paramount. As users, we’ve all experienced the frustration of buggy applications or websites that just don’t work as expected. That’s where Quality Assurance (QA) comes in, and within the QA toolkit, exploratory testing stands out as a powerful technique. But what exactly is exploratory testing, and why is it so crucial in ensuring top-notch software quality? Let’s dive in!
Imagine you’re a detective, entering a crime scene with no predetermined checklist. You use your intuition, experience, and keen observation skills to uncover clues and solve the mystery. That’s essentially what exploratory testing is in the world of software QA.
Exploratory testing is a dynamic approach where testers simultaneously learn about the software, design test cases, and execute them. Unlike scripted testing, where testers follow predefined test cases, exploratory testing allows for creativity and adaptability. In exploratory testing, we don’t create test cases in advance and we do test design and execution at the same time with no or less planning.
Exploratory testing combines learning, test design, and test execution into one seamless activity.
Exploratory Testing – javatpoint
Exploratory testing is crucial for software quality as it provides a flexible and adaptive approach to uncovering issues that may not be detected through traditional scripted testing.
Here are the main reasons why exploratory testing is essential:
Exploratory testing tools are software applications that assist testers in documenting, tracking, and managing their exploratory testing sessions. Although exploratory testing is an informal and unstructured approach, these tools can improve the process by offering features such as recording sessions, tracking bugs, and managing sessions.
Jira is a popular project management and issue-tracking tool used widely in Agile environments. While Jira lacks built-in functionalities for exploratory testing, it can be coupled with plugins and third-party tools to support exploratory testing. Jira Exploratory Testing, an easy way to learn how it works, also includes helpful tools and extensions that make the process better.
Jira can be made better for exploratory testing by adding plugins and third-party integrations. Some popular tools include.
Zephyr stands as a tool for orchestrating test protocols, compatible with Jira, and facilitating the governance of ad-hoc testing events in parallel with standardized test procedures.
Zephyr launches Exploratory Testing and Multi-JIRA Configurations, expanding on its Agile and Continuous Software Delivery solutions
Features:
Testers can record their findings from exploration sessions and connect them to Issues listed in Jira.
Jira can use Xray to keep track of tests, making it easy to handle when tests are planned in advance or when you try to find problems on your own.
Xray | Ministry of Testing
Features:
This is a lightweight Jira plugin specifically intended for session-based exploratory testing.
Features:
Test Lodge is a tool to keep track of tests that works with Jira software for organizing work tasks. It helps with both exploratory testing and testing with a set of pre-written instructions or scripted tests.
Features:
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While exploratory testing is primarily a cognitive process, several tools can enhance its effectiveness:
These help in planning, executing, and reporting exploratory testing sessions. Some of them are explained below:
QA Complete: Another test management tool that facilitates exploratory testing with the ability to log and manage defects found during manual exploration.
Exploratory testers often use mind mapping tools to visually organize their exploration. Some tools that help testers map out different areas to explore are explained below:
It is a popular mind-mapping tool that can help testers visually organize their exploration strategy, making it easier to track test coverage and areas that need further attention.
Another mind mapping tool that allows testers to create interactive, real-time maps that can guide their exploration and ensure better test coverage.
There are browser extensions specifically designed for exploratory testing, especially when testing web applications. Some of them are explained below:
It is a Chrome extension that allows testers to record their actions during web application testing. While it is primarily used for automated testing, it can also assist in exploratory testing by recording and allowing users to replay interactions with the web app.
Create and Publish Custom Keywords as Plugins – Katalon Academy
It is a web-based testing tool with a Chrome extension that allows testers to record their browser interactions. These recorded tests can be re-run, analyzed, and modified, helping improve the exploratory testing process.
Exploratory testing services involve skilled testers exploring a software application without predefined scripts to find hidden bugs, usability issues, and defects. Some Key features include:
Testers explore real user behavior, covering edge cases and scenarios automated tests might miss.
Discovery & Reporting:
Issues are logged in real-time with detailed reports and steps to reproduce.
Testers assess usability and provide feedback for improvement.
Quick, continuous feedback for evolving software.
Testing for system performance and security vulnerabilities.
These services, offered by QA consultancies or freelance testers, help uncover issues early, improve user experience, and ensure software quality.
Here is a clear list of points of difference between Ad hoc Testing and Exploratory Testing:
Aspect | Ad hoc Testing | Exploratory Testing |
Definition | It is an informal, unstructured testing without any planning. | In Exploratory testing, testing is done with a structured approach while learning and adapting in real time. |
Approach | It is a random and spontaneous interaction with the system. | It is focused, but flexible and adaptive based on findings. |
Test Planning | In Ad hoc testing, there is no test planning; testers act without specific goals. | In Exploratory testing, testers plan the session informally but adapt based on exploration. |
Test Cases | No predefined test cases. Testers just explore different aspects randomly. | No predefined test cases, but testers may use informal charters or session plans to guide the testing. |
Goal | Quickly find critical bugs or issues with minimal effort. | Learn about the system, find deep or hidden issues, and understand the behavior. |
Documentation | Typically no documentation or formal tracking of actions and results. | Some level of documentation might be maintained (e.g., session notes, issues discovered). |
Test Design | No formal design, testing is intuitive. | Test design is continuous and evolves as testers learn more about the system. |
Test Focus | No specific focus; testers may test random features or inputs. | Focus on specific areas or features, guided by ongoing observations. |
Time | Usually done when there is limited time or a quick check is needed. | Takes more time, as it involves exploration and deeper analysis. |
Reproducibility | Difficult to reproduce, as the testing is random. | More reproducible, as testers can follow a similar exploratory path or session charter. |
Typical Use Case | Used when there’s urgency or when a fast, broad scan for issues is needed. | Used when thorough investigation is needed, often when new features or complex systems are involved. |
Tester Involvement | Relies heavily on the tester’s intuition and experience. | Requires testers to be actively involved in the learning process, adjusting based on insights gained. |
In conclusion, Ad hoc Testing is an expedient, disorganized strategy for discovering significant defects, frequently in immediate circumstances, whereas Exploratory Testing is more methodical and responsive, centering on profound understanding and comprehensive scrutiny. Both are essential for software quality but serve different purposes.
Test Automation in software testing involves using specific software tools or scripts to automatically run predefined test cases, compare the actual outcomes with the expected results, and report the findings without needing human involvement. The goal is to make the testing process more efficient, enhance productivity, and expand test coverage by automating repetitive tasks that would be tedious and time-consuming if performed manually.
These are pre-written scripts that outline the steps needed to perform tests and verify that the software behaves as expected.
Test automation utilizes various tools such as Selenium, JUnit, TestNG, Appium, and others to streamline the testing process.
One of the key benefits of automated tests is their ability to be reused across different software versions, making them especially valuable for regression testing.
Automation significantly speeds up the execution of tests, particularly for large applications, which helps to shorten the overall testing cycle.
By executing tests in a consistent and precise manner, automation minimizes the risk of human error.
It supports continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) by allowing automated tests to run with each code change.
Here’s a concise list of the key benefits of Test Automation:
Automated tests run significantly faster than manual tests, particularly for repetitive and large-scale test suites. This results in quicker feedback and faster identification of issues, enabling teams to address bugs promptly and speed up the development cycle.
Once developed, automated test scripts can be reused across various versions of the application, making them highly efficient for regression testing. This minimizes the need to rewrite tests, ensuring consistency and saving time across multiple releases.
Automated tests can execute more tests in a shorter time frame, covering a broader range of scenarios, including edge cases and complex workflows that may be too time-consuming for manual testing. This leads to a more thorough and comprehensive testing process.
Automated testing reduces human errors, ensuring that tests are executed consistently and accurately. Test scripts follow the same steps each time, lowering the chances of missed or incorrect steps during testing, which results in more reliable outcomes.
While the initial investment in creating automated tests can be substantial, it becomes cost-effective over time by decreasing the need for extensive manual testing. Automated tests can be reused and executed frequently without incurring additional labor costs, leading to long-term savings.
Automated tests integrate smoothly into CI/CD pipelines, facilitating continuous testing throughout the development cycle. This ensures that new changes are consistently verified, helping teams identify issues early and maintain software quality in fast-paced development environments.
With quicker execution and the capability to run tests continuously, automation aids in delivering products to market more rapidly. This is especially crucial in agile development environment that prioritize rapid iterations and releases.
Test automation guarantees that tests are performed in the same manner every time, ensuring consistent results. This repeatability minimizes the variability that can occur with manual testing, resulting in more reliable outcomes.
Automated testing can easily adapt to the needs of expanding applications, allowing for the execution of numerous tests across various environments, devices, or configurations, without a significant increase in testing time or effort.
Automated tests lessen the amount of manual effort needed, enabling testers to concentrate on more intricate tasks such as exploratory testing, while automation efficiently manages routine or repetitive testing. This enhances overall productivity and allows resources to be allocated to more valuable activities.
Test Automation Technologies encompass a range of tools, frameworks, and methodologies designed to streamline the software testing process. These technologies facilitate the automatic execution of tests, allowing for the comparison of actual outcomes with expected results, and generating reports on the findings without the need for manual input.
Here are some important categories of Test Automation Technologies:
These are specialized software tools created to automate the execution of test cases. They include built-in features that support various types of testing, such as functional, regression, performance, and load testing.
A highly popular tool for web application testing, supporting multiple browsers and programming languages like Java, Python, and C#.
An open-source solution for mobile application testing on both Android and iOS platforms, compatible with several programming languages including Java, Ruby, Python, and JavaScript.
A framework specifically designed for unit testing in Java, providing annotations that help organize and run tests effectively.
A testing framework inspired by JUnit, tailored for Java-based testing. It offers features like parallel execution, flexible test configuration, and test grouping.
A tool that supports behavior-driven development (BDD) testing, allowing tests to be written in plain language (Gherkin syntax) for better understanding by non-technical stakeholders.
A comprehensive automation testing tool for both web and mobile applications, featuring built-in capabilities for test creation, execution, and reporting.
A framework consists of guidelines or rules designed to enhance the efficiency and maintainability of the test automation process. They help standardize testing practices and facilitate integration with various tools and platforms.
Test Automation Framework – PrimeSoft Solutions Inc.
This approach utilizes a set of keywords that represent functions or actions to automate tests. Testers create test cases using these keywords, which are then linked to functions in the script.
This framework separates test data from the test scripts, allowing test data to be stored externally (such as in Excel, CSV, or databases) and used to drive test execution.
This combines aspects of both keyword-driven and data-driven frameworks, offering greater flexibility in test automation.
A framework that promotes collaboration among developers, testers, and non-technical stakeholders. Tools like Cucumber and SpecFlow are commonly used with BDD frameworks.
A design pattern utilized in web testing, especially with Selenium, where each web page is represented by a class, and methods are employed to interact with elements on the page.
These tools work within CI/CD pipelines to ensure that automated tests are executed continuously as new code changes occur, offering immediate feedback to the development team.
This is an open-source automation server that connects with various testing tools. Jenkins facilitates the building, testing, and deployment of applications through automation.
A cloud-based CI tool that seamlessly integrates with GitHub repositories, automatically running test suites with each code commit.
A cloud-based CI/CD tool designed for automating builds, tests, and deployments. It integrates effectively with popular version control systems like GitHub and Bitbucket.
This is a fully integrated CI/CD pipeline within GitLab, enabling automated test execution as part of the version control workflow.
These tools are used to simulate high traffic and assess the performance of the application under load or stress conditions.
An open-source tool designed for performance testing of web applications. It can simulate multiple users, generate traffic, and assess load and stress.
Advance Your Career | Verity Software
A performance testing tool by Micro Focus used to test applications under load. It simulates virtual users and helps to identify performance bottlenecks.
A powerful tool for load testing that is designed for high-performance applications. It is written in Scala and can test web applications with a high number of virtual users.
Test management tools help with organizing, tracking, and reporting on the execution of automated and manual tests, ensuring proper coverage and analysis of test results.
While primarily an issue-tracking tool, Jira integrates with various test management tools (like Zephyr) to manage and track automated tests, linking them to user stories and bug reports.
A web-based test management tool that helps organize and track test cases, automate test executions, and generate reports.
A test management tool by Micro Focus, which integrates with various testing tools to manage test cases, execution, and defect tracking.
These tools are used to test the API layer of applications to ensure that it performs as expected, particularly in microservices and web services.
A popular tool for API testing, Postman allows testers to create, test, and automate API requests, ensuring the backend works correctly.
Postman Makes Building Software Accessible to All, Announces Postman Flows | Business Wire
A tool designed specifically for web service testing, both for RESTful and SOAP-based services. It supports functional and security testing of APIs.
A Java-based library used for API testing of REST services. It simplifies the process of testing APIs with easy-to-write code.
These platforms provide cloud infrastructure for running tests across different environments, browsers, and devices without setting up and maintaining local infrastructure.
A cloud-based platform that provides automated testing for web and mobile applications across a wide range of browsers and devices.
A cloud service for cross-browser testing, allowing automated tests to run on real devices and browsers in a cloud environment.
A cloud platform to run automated tests on different browsers and mobile devices. It integrates with tools like Selenium and Appium for automated testing.
These tools help visualize test results and manage reporting, making it easier for teams to analyze test outcomes and make informed decisions.
A test reporting framework that integrates with various testing tools to generate attractive, detailed reports on test execution results.
A flexible reporting tool that provides real-time, interactive test results and is commonly used in Selenium test automation.
A tool for managing and visualizing test results from multiple automation tools, including integration with CI/CD pipelines.
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Automation technologies encompass a diverse array of tools, frameworks, and platforms, each tailored to meet particular requirements in the software testing lifecycle. Whether it’s web and mobile testing or performance and API testing, selecting the appropriate mix of test automation tools can greatly improve the efficiency, speed, and quality of software testing. As cloud-based platforms have advanced and integrated into CI/CD pipelines, automated testing has emerged as a crucial element of contemporary software development practices.
Exploratory testing is when testers actively explore the software to understand how it works and create test cases as they go along. Instead of following a set list of steps, they use their creativity and knowledge to find issues.
It helps find hidden problems and allows testers to quickly adapt to changes. This type of testing is especially useful in fast-moving projects, where things are always changing.
In scripted testing, testers follow a set of instructions. In exploratory testing, testers explore the software freely, which helps uncover problems that scripted tests might miss.
Exploratory testing fits well with Agile because it allows testers to quickly give feedback on new features and adapt as requirements change.
Testers can use their experience to explore unexpected parts of the software, finding bugs that might be missed by traditional tests.
This means doing exploratory testing in focused, timed sessions. It helps testers stay organized while still being flexible.
Exploratory testing lets testers use their creativity and problem-solving skills, making the process more interesting and allowing them to find issues others might miss.
Tools like mind maps, note-taking apps, and session management tools help testers track what they’ve done, organize their testing, and record their findings.
Exploratory testing works alongside other testing methods like automated testing, helping ensure that the software is tested in different ways.
It can be harder to track full test coverage, and it depends a lot on the tester’s experience. It’s also not as structured as scripted testing, making it harder to measure.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is a vital phase in the software development lifecycle, acting as the final checkpoint to verify that the product aligns with user needs and expectations.
Manual testing is the process in software development where testers execute test cases manually, without the use of automation tools. It is a practical approach that aims to ensure that a software application works as expected by simulating real user behavior.
In manual testing, test cases are carried out by hand without the aid of automated tools. It enables testers to assess the overall user experience, usability, and functionality of the software. To guarantee thorough testing and find potential flaws, it is crucial to write thorough and organized test cases.
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