This post will provide a framework that can be used for deciding how much exploratory testing should be done on a particular feature. It will start by talking about risk then it will define some factors that can affect the quality of a feature and finally it will describe how 3 factors that can be used to define the amount of exploratory testing to do. Risk. Testing is all about Risk. Now we manage the risk and the amount of testing we should do based upon how 'risky' the feature we are developing is. Now there are multiple ways you can test a piece of software. You can use automation, exploratory testing or maybe not even test at all. One testing technique that has gained popularity is exploratory testing and it is defined on Wikipedia as: "Exploratory testing is an approach to software testing that is concisely described as simultaneous learning, test design and test execution" Now in my experience with this method of testing you would typically timebox