Why I prefer Exploratory Testing ?

I have been into Software Testing field for nearly 5.5yrs now. My first 4 years went in writing test cases and executing the same.
My initial days as a software tester was something like this: Going through Requirement Spec or Use cases of my modules, Identifying High level scenarios and Low level scenarios for the same, writing test cases and then once the module is ready for test, execute my test cases and test the module.

Once I finish writing test cases, A senior or peer tester  would review my test cases and add/update my test cases. After that, test cases freezes for that cycle. I was not supposed to change my test cases for any reason.

Now while testing,
    If I get any other test ideas which I might have missed during my test case writing period, I have no option to add that in my test ideas list.
    If I log a defect without giving reference to the test step which I am executing, Developer won't accept it.
Funny part was, We have to share our test ideas with developers before they move their build in QA environment. Developer has to execute our test ideas in their dev environment and make sure they handle all scenarios. But few developers were so lazy that they were not executing the test cases even though it was shared with them.

As a freshers, I was sometimes scared to tell my manager that I missed writing few test ideas while writing test cases even if I knew error message would pop out for certain actions.
I would keep quite or note down that somewhere and add that test idea in the next cycle.

I don't know how many of you faced similar situation in your early days of testing but I did. I always used to feel how to overcome such situations and sometimes I never used to discuss this with my peers too, fearing that they will screw me for missing test steps. Unless and until there is a checklist which we can refer to check for missing test ideas, its quite natural to miss out some test ideas. 

When I resumed my career as a Exploratory Tester, I found out the solution for my above problem. In Exploratory Testing,  Test Ideas keep evolving and we don't allot a specific time duration for writing test ideas. Test Ideas sheet will be updated through out the testing cycle. Chances of missing test ideas are less. We also make use of heuristics (experienced based techniques for problem solving, learning and discovery) which helps in keeping track of various aspects of testing and helps to achieve better test coverage.

This approach has boosted my confidence and it allows me to think from various dimensions that I need to test the application. Freedom of Thinking does matter a lot in Testing !!!

Testing is not an easy job and not just executing your test cases and marking it pass/fail. It is lot more which you will explore or get to know only through Exploratory Testing. Be it in using tools, techniques or approaches that you take to explore an application. You can go deeper and wider which is not the case with traditional testing.  All these are my experience which I faced in the early days of my career. I am not aware how far it has been changed now. But, if they haven't then its better as a tester you change your perception towards "Testing".

Hope this post has helped all those testers who had similar problem like me.

For more information about Exploratory Testing refer to Paul's blog  or Google it :)