How do you engage stakeholders, such as devs & product, with the findings from your exploratory testing session?
20 Mar 2026
In this moment:
Richard Adams
Richard Adams asks:
How do you engage stakeholders, such as devs & product, with the findings from your exploratory testing session?
Things that I've found helpful:
- Establishing an agreement that after every exploratory testing session, a formal debrief will happen. Sometimes group a few sessions and then debrief the group of sessions. Use a call/in person chat to share discoveries. Sometimes this would also be done asynchronously with summarised and detailed testing notes. Or via a recorded video update.
- During the debrief pitch what I think the recipient/s might be interested in first. While we might have this super bug that we must tell them about pick an interesting observation first to break the debrief ice.
- Ask what your recipients would like to hear about first. I'd say, "I've categorised my findings as Problems, Questions, Ideas and Praise. Which would you like to hear first?"
- Keeping sessions short e.g. 30 minutes and max of 90 mins, can still lead to a lot of discoveries. It's hard yet important to not overwhelm devs and product people with so much information. They've already got a lot on their plate! I'd use a value - risks - questions approach to link my exploration back to risks and the value we're trying to deliver with the thing we're building. The aim is to speak in a language of risks.
- Find allies who welcome your approach. I once had a program manager fascinated by my notes. They couldn't believe what I did as I'd attached them to the relevant JIRA. A developer once told me they appreciated seeing all the smiley faces on my testing notes, those that I'd labelled as "praise".
- Keep trying if debriefs don't land. Folks might not initially be ready for them and it's easy to feel disheartened. Just keep going for it.
Thanks for your question, Richard. I hope it helps!
FootMoTes
- This is part of the Ask MoTaverse Anything initiative.
- Ask me a question about exploratory testing and I will answer it.
- See more questions and answers about exploratory testing.
- View the collection of AMA questions and answers.
- The Awesome Power Of The Debrief: Why Debriefing Is The Key To Successful Exploratory Testing by Callum Akehurst-Ryan
- What Is Exploratory Testing? PQIP: Four Simple Words To Level Up Your Testing Efforts by Simon Tomes
Simon Tomes
Community Lead at MoTaverse
he/him
Hello, I'm Simon. Since 2003 I've had various roles in testing, tech leadership and coaching. I believe in the power of collaboration, creativity and community. 🎓 MoT-STEC qualified.
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