What is session based test management?
Session based test management or SBTM and it's a method for measuring and managing exploratory testing. It's a management tool to help others see how a tester is progressing in their exploratory testing work, and it empowers testers to store test notes and useful metrics for other team members to use without sacrificing the quality of the testing.
And how does it work?
A tester will create a charter and add an estimate of length to it, small, medium, or large. The tester executes the charter as an exploratory test session, and once complete they'll fill in a report that contains test notes, the actual time spent, and metrics on the percentage of time spent on test design and execution, bug investigation and reporting, and session setup. And then at the end the tester debriefs to another tester to ensure that they're happy with what they've tested and reported.
What's the value of SBTM?
The metrics can reveal how a tester is getting on. For example, how much time they're actually testing versus setting up an environment, and charters can be calculated with estimated lengths to give an estimate of time to complete testing.
Any pitfalls?
You and your team need to be disciplined when it comes to running debriefs. Missing them could affect the quality of the reports. Also, SBTM is not a widely accepted or known approach, so it requires some effort towards selling it to to stakeholders or managers.
