Check out the new Exploratory Tool!

UPDATED: I goofed and listed Quality Center as an option for pushing bug reports to—but we only integrate bugs with TeamPulse and Team Foundation Server.

As much as I love them, automated tests (be they functional, integration, or unit) aren’t the end-all-be-all for your testing approach. Exploratory testing, particularly for any system of any consequence, is a critical part of your overall “Deliver Great Stuff!” strategy.

Getting your team freed up from repetitive regression testing empowers them to put their brains to use as they poke around the corners of your system. Exploratory testing gives you tremendous value as your team uses their knowledge of the overall problem domain and the system.

We’ve shipped a small, lightweight feedback tool with Test Studio 2012 R1 in order to help you out with quickly filing bugs during your exploratory sessions! Installing Test Studio adds the Test Studio Explore launcher to each of your installed browsers' toolbars. Here’s what it looks like in Firefox:

Click that button and you’ll find the Explore app appears – and it’s nicely done to stay out of your way while you’re doing your testing! Drag it around your screen via the grab handle. (That’s the part with all the dots on the left of the tool.)

With Test Studio Explore you can capture and annotate screenshots. Give it a good title and great description, too!

Once that’s done, push it to your bug tracking system. We now link directly to TeamPulse, and Team Foundation Server!

Test Studio Explore is a great lightweight tool to help you quickly document issues as you’re doing your exploratory. I’ve always been adamant that automation’s only part of your overall testing strategy. We’re here to help with your exploratory testing, too!

About the author

Jim Holmes

Jim Holmes has around 25 years IT experience. He is co-author of "Windows Developer Power Tools" and Chief Cat Herder of the CodeMash Conference. He's a blogger and evangelist for Telerik’s Test Studio, an awesome set of tools to help teams deliver better software. Find him as @aJimHolmes on Twitter.