My February was pretty crazy, so I didn't pursue all of the parts of the  this month. I skipped these parts due to time constraints:

3. How Long and How Far
4. Walk the Distance
8. Bus and Train Maps

No sweat. I'll certainly be coming back to this one since exploratory testing (ET) is meat-and-potatoes testing for me.

1. Know Your Maps

I have read quite a few online resources on ET, but I'm still working on reading through the Agile Testing book—though I made it most of the way through Exploratory Software Testing.

2. North, South, East, West

I skipped this one since we don't use scripted test cases at my current day job.

5. Map Maker. Map of the Place. Make a Model.

I made a site map while testing an application at my day job. Since I was creating it on a wiki, I made this into a more dynamic form of documentation for the application, linking different parts together with details on field inputs or business rules that might not be obvious. I also linked from the site map to existing information about planned regression testing to make it easier to understand how existing test ideas relate to the application flow. Lightweight interconnected documentation that stays up-to-date (though by way of manual effort) appeals to me.

The purpose of my application's site map is two-fold: First, visual representation of the web pages helps to "pan for gold" using Whittaker's approach. Second, diagrams help those unfamiliar with the application to quickly grasp major functionality and usage (e.g., cross-training for paired exploratory testing).

6. Finding Your Way Without Map or Compass

I had some fun with freestyle ET this past week during our lab days at work. Since the implementations were fast and furious to appear, I did some unscripted testing without an explicit plan. I found quite a few issues that could use attention just by letting myself wander.

7. Trail Signs Traffic

While I was testing the usability testing app that we were building last week, I picked the landmark of usability test findings. Since you have to go through one or more usability session logs to build a finding, there were a couple of different paths I took to confirm that findings could be built in the way we wanted. I made a lot of entries for several different sessions in the same usability study and then grouped entries from different sessions under the same findings, which may have been originally created from a different session's log.

Check back soon for the next Tester Merit Badge!