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Dev.to
7/18/2026
Where Exploratory Testing Earns Its Keep

Where Exploratory Testing Earns Its Keep

Short summary

A QA engineer argues that exploratory testing remains essential even with strong automated suites. Automation covers known happy paths, but humans discover edge cases nobody imagined — like bulk-edit failures with hundreds of rows — and make judgment calls about confusing error messages or clunky flows. The automated suite is the floor; exploratory sessions find the gaps automation structurally cannot reach. Not AI-related.

  • •Automated suites cover known paths; exploratory testing discovers scenarios nobody wrote assertions for
  • •Humans make judgment calls automation can't: confusing messages, poor UX flow, unexpected placement
  • •Automated suite is the floor, not something exploratory testing replaces or double-checks

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.

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