Exploratory Scripted Automated Manual Testing

Posted by Ben Simo

Exploratory testing is often said to be the opposite of scripted testing. Automated testing is often said to be the opposite of manual testing. Instead of selecting one or the other, I find it helpful to look at these as opposite ends of spectra. I believe good testing contains components spread throughout multiple spectra.

I think we get into trouble when we apply these labels to “testing” as a whole. I believe all software testing has some aspects that are exploratory, some scripted, some automated*, and some manual. Hopefully all are driven by sapience.

Here are some things I remember about one of the best testing projects in my experience:

• Organizational testing processes were well documented
• Requirements were well documented
• We had enforceable quantitative requirements
• Tests were well planned
• Test plans were well documented
• Test cases were well defined and traceable to requirements
• Tests were well scripted
• Automation was an integral part of the testing

All of the above look like attributes of scripted, plan everything first, testing. We did a lot of planning and scripting for this testing. However, the following things are also true for this testing project:

• Process and documentation requirements were adaptable to the context
• Test "script" execution was mostly exploratory and mostly manual
• Bugs were only reported and officially logged if they were not fixed quickly
• Many requirements were qualitative
• Automation was “driven” by human testers


This scripted exploratory automated manual testing worked very well in its context. It was both the most scripted and most exploratory testing I can think of at the moment: it was the best testing.

Exploration does not mean leaving the map at home. Exploration is not the same as wandering. Testing was well planned while being exploratory in nature and practice. Human beings were involved at every step of the test planning and execution. Introducing automation reduced each iteration’s the test execution time from weeks to days without removing the human tester.

This testing was exploratory. It was dynamic. It was also well
scripted. The combination of static and dynamic components was central to the success of the project.

Instead of thinking of performing exploratory or scripted or automated or manual tests, find the balance of the four to create testing that works best in each situation.


* If you think no aspect of your testing is automated, try testing the software without a computer. And now that I wrote that, I am thinking of software tests that may not require a computer or software. It all depends on context. :)