Exploratory Testing Tip: Out of the lab, into the real world

Here's our tip for today:

Take exploration one step further: Get your testers and your software out of the bubble of the testing lab. Break free of the confines of the controlled testing environment. That's the only way to make sure that your apps and your websites work in real-world conditions.

While your app or software may run smoothly inside the four walls of the office, this doesn't mean that it works all the time for everyone outside your office. By testing with the crowd, you can also make sure it works where your users are most likely to use the software. This could be at home, at work, on the road, with a spotty internet connection, in rural or urban areas.

Wherever your product team is, your customers will likely be somewhere else. They'll still expect your software to function, though. Like test driving a car on a real road instead of a simulator, crowd testing puts software in the hands of the target audience under real-life conditions and receiving qualified feedback.

Looking for more exploratory testing tips? Check these posts out:

• What is exploratory testing?
• Cover A Wide Range of Platforms