Session-based testing is a software test method that aims to combine accountability

Accountability

Accountability is a concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving...

 and exploratory testing to provide rapid defect discovery, creative on-the-fly test design, management control and metrics reporting. The method can also be used in conjunction with Scenario testing. Session-based testing was developed in 2000 by Jonathan and James Bach.

Session-based testing can be used to introduce measurement and control to an immature test process, and can form a foundation for significant improvements in productivity and error detection. Session-based testing can offer benefits when formal requirement

Requirement

In engineering, a requirement is a singular documented physical and functional need that a particular product or service must be or perform. It is most commonly used in a formal sense in systems engineering, software engineering, or enterprise engineering...

s are not present, incomplete, or changing rapidly.

Charter

A charter is a goal or agenda for a test session. Charters are created by the test team prior to the start of testing, but may be added or changed at any time. Often charters are created from a specification, test plan

Test plan

A test plan is a document detailing a systematic approach to testing a system such as a machine or software. The plan typically contains a detailed understanding of what the eventual workflow will be.-Test plans:...

, or by examining results from previous test sessions.

Session

An uninterrupted period of time spent testing, ideally lasting one to two hours. Each session is focused on a charter, but testers can also explore new opportunities or issues during this time. The tester creates and executes test case

Test case

A test case in software engineering is a set of conditions or variables under which a tester will determine whether an application or software system is working correctly or not. The mechanism for determining whether a software program or system has passed or failed such a test is known as a test...

s based on ideas, heuristics or whatever frameworks to guide them and records their progress. This might be through the use of written notes, video capture tools or by whatever method as deemed appropriate by the tester.

Session report

The session report records the test session. Usually this includes:

• Charter.
• Area tested.
• Detailed notes on how testing was conducted.
• A list of any bug
  Software bug
  A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
  
  s found.
• A list of issues (open questions, product or project concerns)
• Any files the tester used or created to support their testing
• Percentage of the session spent on the charter vs investigating new opportunities.
• Percentage of the session spent on:
  • Testing - creating and executing tests.
  • Bug investigation / reporting.
  • Session setup or other non-testing activities.
• Session Start time and duration.

Debrief

A debrief is a short discussion between the manager and tester (or testers) about the session report.
Jon Bach, one of the co-creators of session based test management, uses the aconymn PROOF to help structure his debriefing. PROOF stands for:-

• Past. What happened during the session?
• Results. What was achieved during the session?
• Obstacles. What got in the way of good testing?
• Outlook. What still needs to be done?
• Feelings. How does the tester feel about all this?

Parsing results

With a standardized Session Report, software tools can be used to parse

Parsing

In computer science and linguistics, parsing, or, more formally, syntactic analysis, is the process of analyzing a text, made of a sequence of tokens , to determine its grammatical structure with respect to a given formal grammar...

 and store the results as aggregate data

Aggregate data

In statistics, aggregate data describes data combined from several measurements.In economics, aggregate data or data aggregates describes high-level data that is composed of a multitude or combination of other more individual data....

 for reporting and metrics. This allows reporting on the number of sessions per area or a breakdown of time spent on testing, bug investigation, and setup / other activities.

Planning

Testers using session-based testing can adjust their testing daily to fit the needs of the project. Charters can be added or dropped over time as tests are executed and/or requirements change.

See also

• Software testing
  Software testing
  Software testing is an investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under test. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software...
  
  
• Test case
  Test case
  A test case in software engineering is a set of conditions or variables under which a tester will determine whether an application or software system is working correctly or not. The mechanism for determining whether a software program or system has passed or failed such a test is known as a test...
  
  
• Test script
  Test script
  A test script in software testing is a set of instructions that will be performed on the system under test to test that the system functions as expected.There are various means for executing test scripts.* Manual testing...
  
  
• Exploratory testing
• Scenario testing
  Scenario testing
  Scenario testing is a software testing activity that uses scenarios: hypothetical stories to help the tester work through a complex problem or test system. The ideal scenario test is a credible, complex, compelling or motivating story the outcome of which is easy to evaluate...
  
  
• San Francisco depot
  San Francisco depot
  San Francisco depot is a mnemonic for the SFDPO software exploratory testing heuristic. SFDPO stands for Structure, Function, Data, Platform and Operations. Each of these represents a different aspect of a software product.- Structure :...
  
  

External links

• Session-Based Test Management Site
• How to Manage and Measure ET
• Session-Based Test Lite
• Adventures in Session-Based Testing
• Session-Based Test Management
• Applying Session-Based Testing to Medical Software
• Sessionweb - Web application to manage SBTM including debriefing and support for statistics.
• Web application based on Session-based testing software test method