Test Charters

Test Charters image
A test charter is a sentence that focuses on an exploratory testing session. Each test charter is based on a risk that has been identified within a specific area that has to be focused on. 

You can create test charters using templates. One such template could be to explore target with resources to discover information. Or you could try a mission to discover information. 

Test charters templates give much more structure to an exploratory tester in revealing information for a specific risk. It also allows an exploratory tester to determine whether they're going off charter and determine if that's acceptable. 

A group of test charters can help define the body of work for a tester to carry out on a user story or feature. Test charters need to be just the right level of abstract and specific to allow a space to explore but not to get lost in their exploration. These are required skills for identifying risks. 

They are fallible in that they focus on a specific risk, so missing charters can affect your level of coverage. 

Test Charter examples: 
  • Explore a login form using different credentials to discover how secure the login form is. 
  • My mission is to test the user interface to discover accessibility issues. 
  • Explore the new user web form with various ASCII two five five characters to discover risks and problems surrounding data handling. 
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