Test Types
Ad-Hoc Testing
Informal testing without documentation or formal test cases — relying on the tester's intuition and experience.
Full definition
Ad-hoc testing is informal testing performed without test cases, test plans, or formal documentation. The tester relies on their knowledge, experience, and intuition to find defects.
Ad-hoc testing is NOT the same as exploratory testing:
- Ad-hoc: Unstructured, no documentation, no session management
- Exploratory: Structured approach with charters, sessions, and notes
When ad-hoc testing is useful:
- Quick sanity check of a new build
- After fixing a critical bug — quick verification
- When there's no time for formal testing
- Complementing formal test execution
Limitations:
- Not reproducible
- Depends heavily on tester skill
- No documentation for regression
- Hard to measure coverage
- Cannot be delegated to less experienced testers
Ad-hoc testing has its place, but it should complement — not replace — structured testing approaches.