Testing Under Pressure: A Case for Session-Based Test Management

The nature of exploration, coupled with the ability of testers to rapidly apply their skills and experience, make exploratory testing a widely-used test approach—especially when time is short. Unfortunately, exploratory testing is often dismissed by project managers who assume that it is not reproducible, measurable, or accountable. If you have these concerns, you may find a solution in a technique called Session-Based Test Management (SBTM), developed by Jon Bach and his brother James. In SBTM, testers explore an area of a product, framing their testing in time-boxed “sessions” meant to create a meaningful and countable unit of work. In this hands-on tutorial (laptop required), Jon guides you through the mechanics of session-based testing to help you discover if it’s something valuable for your project. Through practical open-ended testing exercises, you may discover some surprising things about how you perform under pressure and can see how your colleagues respond to the same challenges.

Note: Participants are required to bring a laptop computer to this tutorial.