Manual Testing

Manual testing and exploratory testing are core QA skills, especially for senior QA, Test Leads, and Delivery/Test Managers.

Manual testing means:

A tester executes test scenarios without automation tools, validating functionality, usability, accessibility, business rules, and user experience.

The tester behaves like an end user while systematically verifying requirements.

Examples:

• Login validation
• Checkout flow
• Form submission
• Error messages
• Responsive design
• Browser compatibility
• Keyboard navigation (a11y)
• Email notifications
• Data validation

1. Manual Testing Process

Typical flow:

Step 1: Understand Requirements

Review:

• User stories
• Acceptance criteria
• Designs (Figma)
• Business requirements
• API contracts

Example User Story:

As a customer, I want to apply a coupon code so I can receive discounts.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Coupon applies correctly
• Invalid coupon shows error
• Total recalculates

Step 2: Prepare Test Cases

Example:

Step 3: Execute Tests

Perform actions manually.

Example:

1. Add item to basket
2. Apply coupon
3. Verify basket total
4. Proceed checkout

Record:

PASS / FAIL

Step 4: Log Defects

Good bug report structure:

Title

Coupon SAVE10 does not apply discount

Environment

• QA Environment
• Chrome 126
• Windows 11

Steps

1. Add item £50
2. Apply SAVE10
3. Click Apply

Expected

10% discount applied

Actual

No discount shown

Severity

High

Priority

P1

Step 5: Retest and Regression

Developer fixes bug.

QA:

• Retest fix
• Run regression

2. Types of Manual Testing

Functional Testing

Validate business functionality.

Example:

✓ Login works
✓ Payment succeeds
✓ Search returns products

UI Testing

Validate:

• Layout
• Alignment
• Fonts
• Colours
• Responsive behaviour

Example:

Button overlaps text on mobile.

Usability Testing

Question:

Is this easy to use?

Example:

Checkout requires 12 clicks.

Problem:

Poor UX.

Compatibility Testing

Validate:

• Chrome
• Safari
• Firefox
• Edge
• Mobile browsers

Example:

Date picker broken only in Safari.

Accessibility (a11y) Manual Testing

Examples:

Keyboard-only navigation:

TAB
SHIFT + TAB
ENTER
SPACE
ESC
Arrow keys

Check:

✓ Focus visible
✓ Modal traps focus correctly
✓ Images have alt text
✓ Screen reader announcements work

3. Exploratory Testing

Exploratory testing means:

Simultaneously learning, designing tests, and executing tests without predefined scripts.

Instead of:

"Follow Test Case 123"

Tester thinks:

"What could break?"

Exploratory testing finds issues scripted testing misses.

4. Core Principles

Learn

Understand feature behaviour.

Investigate

Try unexpected actions.

Adapt

Follow clues.

Discover

Find hidden defects.

5. Example Exploratory Session

Feature:

Checkout payment page.

Scripted test:

1. Add product
2. Checkout
3. Pay

Exploratory tester thinks:

What happens if:

• Refresh during payment?
• Browser Back button?
• Double-click Pay?
• Invalid promo + payment together?
• Network disconnect?
• Open two tabs?
• Extremely long address?
• Special characters?
• Payment timeout?
• Mobile rotate screen?

Exploratory often finds:

• Race conditions
• State problems
• Session issues
• UI glitches
• Edge cases

6. Session-Based Exploratory Testing (Common Industry Practice)

Time-box testing.

Example:

Charter

Explore checkout payment failures.

Duration:

45 minutes

Areas:

• Card payment
• PayPal
• Error handling

Notes:

Double click payment -> duplicate order
Back button -> basket clears
Payment timeout -> spinner never ends

Defects:

BUG-441
BUG-442

7. Heuristics (Mental Models)

Experienced testers use heuristics.

CRUD

Create
Read
Update
Delete

Example:

Profile page:

✓ Create profile
✓ View profile
✓ Edit profile
✓ Delete profile

RCRCRC

Recent
Core
Risky
Configuration-sensitive
Repaired
Chronic

Prioritise testing:

• New changes
• Critical functionality
• Previous problem areas

FEW HICCUPPS (Exploratory mnemonic)

Think about:

• Function
• Error handling
• Workflow
• History
• Input
• Compatibility
• Configuration
• Usability
• Performance
• Permissions
• Security

8. Exploratory Testing Example (eCommerce)

Search feature.

Normal test:

Search "shoes"
Expect products

Exploratory ideas:

Search:

""
(space)

%%%%%%

12345678999999999999999

<script>

emoji 😊

very very very long text

mixed language text

special characters

Observe:

• Errors
• Performance
• Broken layout
• Security issues
• Encoding problems

9. Manual vs Exploratory

Good QA teams use both.

Typical release:

Smoke Testing
↓
Manual Functional Testing
↓
Exploratory Testing
↓
Accessibility Testing
↓
Regression

10. Senior QA mindset

Junior tester:

"I tested what was asked."

Senior tester:

"I tested what was asked, what could fail, what users might do, and what developers might accidentally break."

That mindset makes exploratory testing powerful.