# Exploratory Testing – When, Why, and How? Exploratory testing goes beyond the conventions and the limit of scripted testing. Scripted testing follows a strict protocol and principle, while exploratory testing goes further beyond the limits of the scripted testing. The testers take a few deviations like designing tests, executing them, observing the results, and then using the result to write the next test case. Exploratory testing is widely used in agile methodology. Exploratory testing does not follow a strict plan and provides you with what you have expected; instead, you will find something entirely different that no one has ever experienced or noticed before. Since testers explore more during exploratory testing and do not limit themselves to the scopes of scripted testing, exploratory testing is believed to take more time than scripted testing. Regardless, statistics reveal that exploratory testing discovers 11% more defects compared to scripted testing. It discovers 29% more errors in UI designs and 33% more complex bugs compared to scripted testing. Scripted testing has steps predefined that limit your scope to try other test scenarios. Exploratory testing gravitates toward more options, which is exemplified by experience and product knowledge. **When to do exploratory testing?** Exploratory testing is more of a scientific approach; and is suitable for specific test scenarios. It is ideal for the situation when the testers must provide quick feedback based on their learning and knowledge about the product. Exploratory testing is the ultimate choice when you want to review the quality of the application from the user’s point of view. [Exploratory testing](https://yethi.in/blog/exploratory-testing-vs-automation/) is useful when testers have less time to structure the tests at the early stage of the software development lifecycle. Exploratory testing helps the unit in the test process and documents the process so that the information can be used for testing at the later sprints. Exploratory testing takes the edge cases in mission-critical applications into consideration that may lead to failure of quality assurance if ignored. Exploratory testing is performed when you want to improve the test coverage by finding new test scenarios. **Why to do exploratory testing?** Demands for quality digital experience are rising in the market. Now each company must ramp up the speed of product delivery to meet the rising demand of the customers. While speed is essential to releasing the product to the market, it is also essential to maintain the quality of the digital experience. Teams must accommodate frequent feature changes and must adopt continuous integration. However, these changes come with many bugs and errors that may harm the user experience. If a company rush to meet the deadline, it cannot guarantee not compromising the product quality. The right testing approach can save the organization from reputational and financial damage. As most software testing follows a structured approach, they often miss the edge cases. Most software quality testing uses a structured approach. Test cases are based on the used case scenarios, and the structure of test data is based on defined test cases. Through [User Acceptance Testing](https://yethi.in/services/functional-testing/acceptance-testing/), testers can include edge cases. Exploratory testing follows an unstructured approach and can discover bugs that remain unattended during the structured scripted testing phase. In exploratory testing, the tester can play around with used cases and find defects and document them on the fly. Their unstructured and spontaneous findings are converted to test cases and used for the QA process. Exploratory testing helps in validating the errors and reporting them immediately. Exploratory testing allows everyone in a team to participate and respond and adapt to changes quickly, enabling an agile workflow. The testers can use tools for [automating test case](https://yethi.in/tenjin/) documentation and converting the sequence of exploratory testing into [functional test scripts](https://yethi.in/services/functional-testing/). Exploratory testing creates an instant feedback cycle, facilitates [unit testing](https://yethi.in/services/functional-testing/integration-testing/), and speeds up the documentation process. **How to do exploratory testing?** It is important to establish a clear mission for executing. It is true that the exploratory testing is unstructured, but a clear mission is important to consider the test cases and assess the quality of the application. Exploratory testing addresses the issues and questions raised during testing. Even the most unstructured exploratory testing requires the well-defined process. 1. It is crucial to find out the root cause of the errors from the past projects, categorize the problems, identify the risks, classify the bugs, and develop ideas to test the application. 2. It is important to have adequate knowledge of the application under test. Identify what to test and factors to consider while testing the applications. Determine the starting phase of the testing and specify how users will utilize the systems. 3. It is critical to define the time limit for testing the applications. During the focus hours, there shall not be any interruptions. Testers must respond to the application performance and prepare an accurate outcome. 4. It is important to review the result or outcome by assessing the defect, analyzing the test area, determining the test coverage, and learning from the mistakes and test process. 5. It is crucial to check if there is a requirement for additional tests, compare the results to the test characters and compile the results. In case there is a need for additional tests, it is necessary to maintain a tight schedule for the additional tests. **Conclusion** – Exploratory testing cannot be done separately. It must be combined with mandated scripted testing, but it is critical to understand when the exploratory testing must be done. There is minimal planning for exploratory testing, but it focuses on exploring much elaborate scope of testing and detecting defects. It is most suitable for testing of multiple versions of a software using agile methodologies, and features of an upcoming software. Tester skill is a key to exploratory testing and investigates the [testing](https://yethi.in/services/functional-testing/regression-testing/) modules where testers can mold according to the tester’s spontaneous decisions for optimizing the testing methodology Exploratory testing is ad hoc testing with a procedural approach to discover bugs and debriefing and emphasizes on adaptability and learning.