Session-Based Exploratory Testing-With a Test

Session-based exploratory testing is an effective means to test when time is short and requirements are not clearly defined. Is it advisable to use session-based exploratory testing when the requirements are known and documented? How about when the test cases are already defined? What if half of the test team is unfamiliar with the software under test? The answers are yes, yes, yes. Brenda Lee explains how her team modified the session-based exploratory testing approach to include requirements and test cases as part of its charter. In one instance, during the short seven-day test window the team validated forty-one out of forty-five requirements, executed more than 200 test cases using seventeen charters, and identified fifteen new, significant issues. The team was able to present a high-level test summary to the customer only two days after the conclusion of system test. What did the customer say? "This had to be the shortest system test cycle ever."

• A structured and managed approach for faster system testing
• How session-based exploratory testing works with traditional development projects
• Ways to obtain management support for experimentation