Moonlighting

#softwaretesting

I've decided to try a bit of testing in my spare time. (I know how some colleagues will react... But this is a learning exercise that I want to document also.)

I'm going to have a look at the Test Republic challenge, here. I saw the reference to the challenge in one of Pradeep's blog posts on blogging, here.

I haven't really thought about testing a website before (it's not in my area of work), so it's an interesting diversion for me.

There was no defined approach or strategy to use in the challenge. The approach I will use is of general useability testing, combined with aspects of exploratory testing.

Why exploratory & useability?

The useability approach is a means of looking at the human interfaces, and I'll take the role of someone with very limited experience of the website.

The exploratory element will help me dictate the course of the testing - which leads I follow-up and focus on and also help me decide when to stop (both in terms of the feedback from the test session and also by adhering to a timed/defined test session.)

Summing-up

I like the ultimate aim - to describe the problems (issues or faults) in a legible and useful way - this exercise is something all testers (at whatever level) should be able to do, so it's a very accessible challenge.

I'll publish my report in due course - both the one I enter for the competition and also the notes about how I went about it...

When did you last do some testing moonlighting?