# Exploratory Test Charter: [Charter ID] [Short mission]

> Charter and session record for one time-boxed exploratory testing
> session. The charter sets the mission before the session; the session
> sheet records what the tester did, found and could not do; the debrief
> turns it into decisions. The format follows session-based test
> management as described by Jonathan Bach and James Bach (2000).
> Exploratory testing is an experience-based approach, the third family
> of test design techniques in ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-4:2021 next to
> specification-based and structure-based techniques. Replace every
> `[bracketed]` value and every row marked *Example*.

<!--
Guidance: How to use this template
- One charter per session of 60 to 120 minutes. A charter that needs a
  day is several charters.
- Write the mission as: explore [target] with [resources, techniques or
  data] to discover [information you want]. A mission without the
  "to discover" part leads to wandering.
- Take notes during the session, in plain words, with times. The notes
  are the evidence; a session without notes cannot be debriefed.
- Hold the debrief within a day, with the test lead, and decide what
  happens to each bug, issue and new charter idea.
- The worked example is a fictional session on Quillfern Desk 5.3, a
  help desk product of the fictional Quillfern Systems.
-->

## 1. Charter

<!-- Guidance: Agree the charter with the test lead before the session. Areas and risks link the session to the test plan. -->

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Charter ID | [CH-QD53-07] *(Example)* |
| Mission | *Example:* Explore the ticket board with keyboard only and a screen reader to discover where agents cannot complete triage without a mouse |
| Areas | *Example:* Ticket board, assignee picker, status change |
| Risks addressed | *Example:* R-03 (late board rework), ACR-ISS-001 |
| Build and environment | *Example:* 5.3.0-rc3 on ST-2, NVDA with Firefox |
| Time box | [90 minutes] |
| Tester | [@tester] |

## 2. Session sheet

<!-- Guidance: Split time into setup, test design and execution, and bug investigation, as percentages of the session. They show how much time was really spent testing. -->

| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Start and duration | YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM, [95] minutes *(Example)* |
| Time split (setup / testing / bug investigation) | *Example:* 10% / 65% / 25% |
| Charter versus opportunity | *Example:* 85% on charter, 15% on an opportunity (keyboard shortcuts) |

**Test notes** *(Example)*

- 10:05 Tab order on the board reaches each column header, then each card. Cards announce title and priority.
- 10:22 No keyboard way to move a card; context menu has no "Move to" option.
- 10:40 Assignee picker: arrow keys move the highlight, but NVDA does not announce the selected option.
- 11:05 Opportunity: shortcut "g b" opens the board even when focus is in a text field.

## 3. Bugs and issues

<!-- Guidance: Bugs are product problems; issues are questions or obstacles to testing. Raise each bug in the tracker and put its ID here. -->

| Type | ID | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Bug *(Example)* | INC-QD53-0161 | Cards cannot be moved by keyboard (links to ACR-ISS-001) |
| Bug *(Example)* | INC-QD53-0162 | Shortcut fires while typing in a text field |
| Issue *(Example)* | ISS-07 | No test account with JAWS licence; JAWS not covered |
| [Bug / Issue] | [ID] | [Summary] |

## 4. Debrief

<!-- Guidance: Answer the questions below with the test lead. Record decisions, not the conversation. -->

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Was the mission met? | *Example:* Partly: triage blocked by the board, so status changes were tested through the ticket form instead |
| What was not covered and why? | *Example:* JAWS (ISS-07); bulk actions (out of time) |
| New charters proposed | *Example:* CH-QD53-08 Explore bulk actions with keyboard only to discover focus loss |
| Decisions | *Example:* Raise INC-QD53-0161 to S2; book JAWS licence |
| Debriefed by and date | [@test-lead], YYYY-MM-DD |

Related templates: Test Incident Report (`quality/test-incident-report`),
Test Status Report (`quality/test-status-report`), Test Strategy
(`quality/test-strategy`).

## Sources and licence note

Based on the session-based test management approach described by
Jonathan Bach and James Bach (*Session-Based Test Management*, 2000,
https://www.satisfice.com/download/session-based-test-management) and
on the charter shape (target, resources, information) discussed in
Elisabeth Hendrickson, *Explore It!* (Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2013). Both
are cited by name only; this text is original. ISO/IEC/IEEE
29119-4:2021, *Software and systems engineering: Software testing: Part
4: Test techniques*, is named for its classification of test design
techniques only. Official text: ISO, IEC and IEEE, purchase or licensed
access: https://www.iso.org/standard/79430.html. Template licence: MIT.