Exploratory System Testing - Cheat Sheet

1. What inputs and data will cause application to perform the most processing?
2. Which inputs might fool application’s error checking routines?
3. Setting of complex preferences or visualization, example completely changing the default UI with additional plug-ins / gadgets available etc.
4. Doing things which don’t make sense from end users perspective. Just do it because it is possible to do. Example – Buy expensive item and return immediately, register into the application and request for removing registration immediately.
5. Do things which only few users would do.  Example, create realistically complicated documents, create very complex orders (selection order, # items etc) in shopping cart etc.
6. Identify inputs that are stored and “follow” them around the software. Example – When an address is entered into the shopping site, where does it get displayed? Find features that touch that data and validates the functionality.  In a way, try to find life history of objects in the system, like how was the object created? What happens to it? How is it used or modified? What and with what other features it interacts with? When it is destroyed or discarded?
7. Maintenance tasks, archived data and backup files.
8. Test start up procedures and scripts
9. Don’t select the default value when provided by application
10. Enter the least likely input while completing the scenario. Example rather than selecting specific country from the list, select ‘Other’.
11. Don’t close the application for a longer time and keep on using it regularly
12. Don’t close the application for a longer time and keep it idle
13. Which features takes most clicks to reach?
14. Test on multiple copies of the software on the same machine
15. Start operation and stop them. Hit cancel and see what happens
16. Start operation and stop them and start it again this time w/o closing
17. Accepting all default values, providing minimum values as required by the application and completing the feature / scenario
18. Artificially create errant environmental condition ex removing the network cable, insufficient disk size, memory etc. Abuse the system and make sure the system is reliable and fault tolerant.
19. Apply (bad) input that should not occur
20. Change the order / sequence of input / steps
21. Repeat the same step again and again. Example - adding one item to cart and then another item third etc.
22. Provide inputs where input combination resulting as a negative input. Example - Depart date can’t be in future of Arrival date.
23. Do things in wrong order. Example - checkout before putting anything in yours shopping cart
24. Functionality being executed concurrently
25. Test same functionality from all possible different paths. Example – Opening a document using menu item or Shortcut
26. List different types of users in the system and analyze their interests and objectives.
27. What forms do the users work with? Work with them - Read, Write, Modify etc.
28. Study complaints about the system on internet like twitter, forums etc.
29. Study complaints about its predecessors or competitors on internet like twitter, forums etc.