Process

There is a notion that exploratory testing is devoid of and incompatible with planning. Supporters and skeptics alike tend to have concerns that exploratory testing might not work in their organizations because of this perceived lack of planning. Is exploratory testing necessarily unplanned? Let's take a look at the nature of plans and how exploratory practices fit into the big picture.

Exploratory software testing is a powerful and fun approach to testing. In some situations, it can be orders of magnitude more productive than scripted testing. I haven't found a tester yet who didn't, at least unconsciously, perform exploratory testing at one time or another. Yet few of us study this approach, and it doesn't get much respect in our field. It's high time we stop the denial, and publicly recognize the exploratory approach for what it is: scientific thinking in real time. Friends, that's a good thing.

You can use this spreadsheet to demonstrate the value of early defect removal. It includes defect depletion curves or phase containment effectiveness calculations.