exploratory-charter-author

Overview

A charter is the structured-but-open frame of an SBTM session: it tells the tester what to learn, not what to click. This skill is the authoring workflow - from a raw input (spec, diff, incident) to a filled charter card. The card format itself, the session vocabulary, and the time-box rationale are owned by exploratory-testing; the ready-to-fill card is its charter-template reference. This workflow fills that template - it does not redefine it.

Input: a feature spec / story, a diff / changeset, a bug cluster / incident postmortem, or a backlog item labeled "needs exploration." Output: a charter card the tester executes and reports against.

Step 1 - Frame the mission

The mission is the load-bearing field - one sentence telling the tester what to learn. Three patterns:

A mission is not "test the checkout page" (too vague) or "verify promo codes apply" (too narrow - that's a scripted test).

Step 2 - Scope areas, pick the time-box, suggest tours

Areas (3-7 per 90-min session) scope the exploration; they are what to look at, not what to assert. Derive them from the input: spec sections, diff blast-radius, or the bug cluster's common surface.

Time-box lengths (60 / 90 / 120 min) and their rationale: exploratory-testing.

Suggested tours, and how many to pick per session: the tours reference in exploratory-testing. The charter suggests; the tester picks. For the Bad-data tour, point the tester at malicious-payload-bank.

Step 3 - Wire the deliverables (PROOF debrief)

Sessions deliver a structured PROOF debrief into the exploratory-testing debrief template (its debrief reference); the debrief fields and the session-sheet structure are owned by that skill. The charter's deliverables block names three things:

• PROOF debrief at session end.
• Defects in BUG-* format via bug-repro-builder.
• Coverage notes: which areas had time, which didn't.

Step 4 - Fill the charter card

Write charters/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<kebab-feature>.md. The minimal card (the full one, with oracle and SFDPOT sections, is the charter-template reference in exploratory-testing):

# Charter - 2026-11-03 - promo-code-apply

**Mission:** Explore the promo-code apply flow at checkout with boundary
inputs and stacked codes to discover discount-calculation defects and
error-state gaps.
**Created from:** STORY-482
**Target build / SHA:** (tester fills before session)
**Time-box:** 90 min
**Tester:** ________  **Date:** ________

## Areas (3-7)
- Code entry and validation messages
- Discount math with stacked codes
- Expiry at the boundary minute
- Cart edits after a code is applied

## Suggested tours
- Bad-data tour (payloads: `malicious-payload-bank`)
- Money tour

## Out of scope
- Load / performance (`k6-load-testing`), accessibility
  (`qa-accessibility`), cross-browser (`qa-web-e2e`)

## Deliverables
- PROOF debrief at session end
- Defects as BUG-* via `bug-repro-builder`
- Coverage notes: areas with time / areas without

The mission uses the SBTM "Explore with to discover " pattern (cited in the exploratory-testing charter template). Bach defines exploratory testing as testing while learning (satisfice.com), so the "to discover" clause is what makes it a mission.

Step 5 - Validate against the halt rules

Re-read the card against each halt rule below. For every hit, fix the card and check again; emit it only when none apply:

Halt rules

Do not emit a charter that violates any of these:

• No mission. "Explore X" is not a mission; it's a target. The mission must say what to learn.
• Multiple missions in one charter. Each charter has one mission; multi-mission sessions get split.
• Time-box over 120 minutes. Longer sessions diminish; split into multiple charters.
• Re-exploring last session's area without its PROOF debrief. Duplicate exploration is a smell; review the previous debrief first.

Hand-off targets

• Scripted steps rather than a charter → manual-test-script-author.
• Post-session debrief → the exploratory-testing debrief reference.
• Defects found during the session → bug-repro-builder.

References

• Bach J. + Bach J., "Session-Based Test Management" - charter, session, debrief vocabulary: satisfice.com
• exploratory-testing - owns the charter card template, tour catalog, session sheet, and PROOF debrief this workflow fills.