Power Hour - Exploratory Testing

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Hi.

Correct me if I am wrong. As far as I’m aware we perform exploratory testing when

  1. We have limited time
  2. When we have no/limited requirements/documentation.

Are these the only conditions and time where we can perform exploratory testing?
Can we perform exploratory testing when we have sufficient time and documentation?

I am new to exploratory testing and I would be happy if any of you can answer.

Thank you.

Hi @murat,

Thanks for your question.

Yes, you can absolutely perform exploratory testing when you have sufficient time and documentation. I actively encourage it!

You can use exploratory testing techniques (and mindset) at any time. For example, imagine you’re looking at a requirement doc, you could run an exploratory testing session on the information in front of you. You might ask questions about some of the risks you’ve identified in the documentation.

Explore a wireframe. Explore a mockup. Explore databases, systems diagrams, APIs, acceptance criteria, ideas, processes, feature files, assumptions, the UI, specifications. Go and explore anything you can gather useful information from!

Time is an excellent constraint and I mostly time-box all my exploratory testing sessions (anything from 20 minutes to 90 minutes). It encourages focus, reduces information share overload and increases the likelihood of useful conversations sooner rather than later – and those conversations influence what to explore next.