A study on assets applied in exploratory test design and execution: an interview application

Abstract

This Research to Practice Full Paper presents that the Exploratory Test (ET) is evidenced in the specialized literature as an alternative used in the industry to meet the needs of agile and / or short-term test processes. However, there is still an understanding by professionals in the field that this agile test approach is informal, not considering the realization, mainly, of a strategy that can encompass ET project activities and execution in a systematic way. It is noted that the industry has been spreading the ET due to proposing an efficacy for quick feedback of the test process and not requiring great effort in documentation. However, the applicability of ET still faces challenges related to the definition of an adequate and effective strategy, mainly, to the design and execution of this approach. In view of this, this study aims to identify tools, techniques and / or methods, and work products relevant to ET design and execution activities used by professionals in the field in the industrial context adhering to the practices and goals prescribed in the TMMi (Test Maturity Model Integration). For this, a Survey was applied, by means of the interview technique with implementing professionals and / or evaluators of MPT.Br (Brazilian Testing Process Improvement), certified by TMMi and professionals without accreditation, as long as they are active in the Software Testing area, mainly with process improvement. The results were organized into three groups: 1) identification of the participants, 2) identification of tools, techniques and / or methods, and work products in the context of the ET design, and 3) identification of tools, techniques and / or methods, and work products in the context of ET execution. Thus, in group “1” all participants had more than 5 years of experience in Software Testing and with the ET approach, having their first contact with ET in the work environment or study on their own. In group “2” the Testlink and Jira tools are most used to support project activities, with risk analysis being the most cited technique for activities to identify and prioritize conditions and data for the test, also serving as a complement to the application of ET. As for work products, the most cited were the use of the test plan and results of previous test runs in which the ET was applied. In group “3”, the Mantis and Jira tools were most cited to support the management and execution of the tests. Regarding the execution techniques, the use of ET with manual and automated strategy is noted, and in relation to the work products, the incidents report and matrix were the most cited. It is noted that a tool serves many activities related to the design and execution of ET, with risk analysis being a widely used technique and incident reports being important in the analysis to make decisions regarding the testing process. Finally, it is mentioned that this work together with another study previously carried out on the identification of assets in the international and Brazilian curricula for the use of teaching-learning test design and execution will serve to support the elaboration of a ET teaching plan.