Insights from the application of Exploratory Tests in the daily life of distributed teams: an experience report

Abstract

The Exploratory Testing (ET) approach has been adopted in the context of agile development due to the effectiveness of its application. Due to these benefits, the need arose to train agile professionals based on the practical application of this type of test to contribute to its incorporation into the daily work of teams. In this sense, the objective of this article is to investigate the contributions and limitations of adopting Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) in ET teaching-learning, and the main aspects that favor or limit the incorporation of ET into the day-to-day of agile teams. For this, we conducted a course in remote teaching format with agile professionals from a software development company, distributed geographically. At the end of the course, data were collected through an online questionnaire and examined with quantitative and qualitative analysis. Then, the ET activities performed by the participants in their daily lives were monitored and a brainstorming session was conducted to evaluate this experience. Our main findings are that (1) the collaboration between participants and the adoption of a real problem, along with (2) activities and resources made available before the class, and (3) the existence of specific tool support for ET sessions optimized learning in the context of remote teaching. Other main results refer to the planning and registration of ET and the need for guidelines to guide the execution of ET. Therefore, integrating theory and practice in ET is necessary for a better understanding of the effects of tests in the agile environment. Additionally, it is necessary to investigate specific approaches and tools that contribute to the execution of the ET and, consequently, to the incorporation of this test into the daily lives of the teams.