Making Exploratory Testing Data-Driven with Pareto Analysis

This session presents a disciplined approach to exploratory testing that combines component-level defect analysis with focused and data-driven test charter design. Christopher will demonstrate how to decompose an application into meaningful components, consistently map defects to those components, and apply Pareto analysis to identify the areas responsible for the majority of defects. These high-risk components then become the basis for targeted exploratory test charters that summarize relevant defect history and provide testers with concrete test ideas and heuristics. Each exploratory session produces both documented defects and a learning summary that captures what was discovered about the system. Repeated sprint over sprint, this approach shifts exploratory testing from intuition-driven activity to a reliable, repeatable process that measurably reduces defect recurrence, component by component, and improves overall product quality. Attendees will leave with a practical method they can apply immediately using defect data they already have.