What is Adhoc Testing? Types with Example
Tests Done on an As-Needed Basis
Ad hoc testing is a type of software testing that is considered to be either informal or unstructured. The purpose of this type of testing is to interrupt the testing process in order to locate potential flaws or problems at the earliest feasible stage. Testing that is performed ad hoc is carried out in a haphazard manner and is typically an unplanned activity that does not adhere to any documentation or test design techniques when creating test cases.
Ad hoc testing is a form of testing that does not adhere to any predetermined framework and can be performed at will on any component of an application. Finding faults through random inspection is the primary objective of this testing. Error Guessing is a method for testing software that can be used to perform ad hoc testing. Error guessing is something that can be done by those who have sufficient expertise working with the system to be able to “guess” the most likely cause of mistakes.
This testing does not require any paperwork, planning, or following of a process to be carried out. Due to the fact that the purpose of this testing is to locate bugs using a randomised approach, bugs will not be mapped to test cases because there will be no documentation. Because of this, it is not always easy to reproduce the problems because there are no test steps or criteria that are linked to it. Sometimes, however, it is possible to do so.
The video that follows will instruct you on how to conduct ad hoc testing.
When execute Adhoc Testing?
When there is insufficient time to do comprehensive testing, ad hoc testing might be carried out instead. In most cases, ad hoc testing is carried out after the execution of the formal tests. In addition to that, ad hoc testing can be performed on the system if there is enough time. The only way for ad hoc testing to be effective is for the tester to have prior knowledge about the system that is being tested.
Types of Adhoc testing
There are different types of Adhoc testing and they are listed as below:
| Buddy Testing | Two buddies mutually work on identifying defects in the same module. Mostly one buddy will be from development team and another person will be from testing team. Buddy testing helps the testers develop better test cases and development team can also make design changes early. This testing usually happens after Unit Testing completion. |
| Pair testing | Two testers are assigned modules, share ideas and work on the same machines to find defects. One person can execute the tests and another person can take notes on the findings. Roles of the persons can be a tester and scriber during testing.
Comparison Buddy and Pair Testing: Buddy testing is combination of unit and System Testing together with developers and testers but Pair testing is done only with the testers with different knowledge levels. (Experienced and non-experienced to share their ideas and views) |
| Monkey Testing | Randomly test the product or application without test cases with a goal to break the system. |
Best practises for testing on an ad hoc basis
Ad hoc testing can be made more efficient by following established best practises.
A solid foundation in business knowledge
Testers need to have a solid understanding of the business as well as a crystal-clear grasp of the requirements. Having in-depth knowledge of the entire process from beginning to end will make it much simpler to locate errors. Testers with more experience are better at error guessing, which allows them to find more flaws.
Test Key Modules
It is important to determine which key business modules will be tested ad hoc and then target those modules. In order to gain confidence in the overall quality of the system, testing should initially focus on business-critical modules.
Defects in the Record
Each and every imperfection has to be noted down or recorded in some way. Developers need to be given responsibility for fixing defects in the system. It is required that corresponding test cases be written for each valid defect, and they must also be added to the test cases that have been planned.
These findings should be considered a lesson learned, and they should be reflected in our next system while we are planning for test cases. This should take place while we are planning for the test cases.
Conclusion:
One of the benefits of ad hoc testing is that it can check whether or not the testing has been completed thoroughly and find more defects than planned testing can. The test cases that are designed to catch defects are added on top of the planned test cases as additional test cases.
Ad-hoc testing is advantageous in Software Engineering because it does not call for extensive test planning, documentation, or test case design. This results in significant time savings.