“Live Exploratory Testing”
We don’t often see the nitty-gritty, everyday work of a tester live on a conference stage. It feels like it might be boring. We do a lot of our work by ourselves, alone at the computer screen. We spend big chunks of time interacting with the software, making decisions, and thinking about what to do next. Very few of our colleagues hear about what happens, and even fewer see enough of it to describe or pick up some of the skills themselves.
I’m going to perform some exploratory testing live on stage. I’ve got a simple Bookshelf REST API, so we’ll have the opportunity to look at the product from several angles: what the team’s told us, the automated tests, the API specifications, and calling the API ourselves. I’ll also have relevant references to use as test oracles in our exploration.
I’ll spend a chunk of time narrating how I’m deciding whether something is expected or unexpected behavior (oracles), how I’m making decisions about what to look at next in the moment (heuristics), and delivering the test debrief or report that I’d provide in my next conversation with the team.
We’ll see that specific example first, then we’ll build a general understanding of the tools and techniques I used. Armed with the name and descriptions of the exploratory testing thought process, you’ll be better equipped to map them to your own and turn what feels like ad-hoc testing into a strategic, repeatable process yielding valuable results that you can share with your colleagues.
Bio
Elizabeth Zagroba is Lead DevOps Engineer - Test Automation at Rabobank in The Netherlands. She sets out to prove that when “it should just work” it actually does. She’s the go-to person for thinking critically about what’s being built, creating a common understanding, and writing tests and English effectively. Her goal is to build enough skills in individuals and teams to make herself redundant.