Imagined | Real

From Exploratory Testing Workshop – Exploration II – Work. This version for Workroom PlayTime.

As testers, we regularly hold two comparable things in mind: something imagined, and something real. When trying to plan or complete work, we'll often try to work our way through one, looking at the other. We'll imagine a list of checks, and see whether they're fulfilled by the real software. Or we'll look at the methods exposed by an API, see what each does, and judge whether it's reasonable or weird.

In this, we'll work with common artefacts used in planning and doing testing, and think together about how they fit into these patterns.

5-10 minutes

Look for the oval containing imagined | real

Above it, there should be a set of stickies, each listing something you might use while testing a system.

Collectively, sort the stickies into either side of the circle. For example Execuable files actually exist. SLAs describe what the system should be.

If you find something fits both, or if you find something on the wrong side, duplicate it and make a note.

Debrief – can we see patterns? Can we see iterables on both sides? What else might we add? What doesn't fit? What is ambiguous?

5 minutes

Considering the iterables – how might we iterate?