E-Book Overview
Think of this book as a 300 page checklist that uncovers gaps in the testing process, some glaring and some more subtle. From that perspective you are not getting yet another book on how to test software, but insights into the author's extensive experience and knowledge. Therein lies the value of this book, and why it is applicable to not only software QA professionals at all experience levels, but to project managements, application support professionals, and developers.
The book is divided into chapters that address a specific phase in the testing process, starting with requirements through to text execution. I won't dwell on the content that will be of particular interest to QA practitioners because the entire book applies. Instead, I'll cite the information that other stakeholders in application delivery will find useful because I believe this book has a much wider audience than just QA:
- Chapter I (Requirements) should be read by project managers and the requirements team. It underscores the importance of integrating the QA team at the earliest stage of a project.
- Chapter IV (System Architecture) shows the importance of communications between the architects and design team and the QA team. Specifically, if QA isn't working closely with architecture, designs may not be testable, which will impose significant costs downstream in the applications delivery process.
- Chapter VI (Unit Testing) gives advice on how to effectively engage the development team in the overall quality strategy.
- Chapter X (Managing Test Execution) has excellent advice on managing defects, which has a plethora of stakeholders and roles, from support, business and development domains. In addition, the guidance on bounding the test execution cycle is not of primary interest to project managers, but also to business stakeholders. It's a sad commentary on the way some organizations manage the test environment when advice for separating the test and development environments need to be included, but this commingling happens too often and I was happy to see it included in this chapter.
This is not a 'how to test' book, it is a compilation of pitfalls and how to avoid them. It is a welcome addition to the growing software quality body of knowledge and one that I recommend highly.
E-Book Content
Copyright Preface Organization Audience Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Requirements Phase Item 1: Involve Testers from the Beginning Item 2: Verify the Requirements Item 3: Design Test Procedures As Soon As Requirements Are Available Item 4: Ensure That Requirement Changes Are Communicated Item 5: Beware of Developing and Testing Based on an Existing System Chapter 2. Test Planning Item 6: Understand the Task At Hand and the Related Testing Goal Item 7: Consider the Risks Item 8: Base Testing Efforts on a Prioritized Feature Schedule Item 9: Keep Software Issues in Mind Item 10: Acquire Effective Test Data
Item 11: Plan the Test Environment Item 12: Estimate Test Preparation and Execution Time Chapter 3. The Testing Team Item 13: Define Roles and Responsibilities Item 14: Require a Mixture of Testing Skills, Subject-Matter Expertise, and Experience Item 15: Evaluate the Tester's Effectiveness Chapter 4. The System Architecture Item 16: Understand the Architecture and Underlying Components Item 17: Verify That the System Supports Testability Item 18: Use Logging to Increase System Testability Item 19: Verify That the System Supports Debug and Release Execution Modes Chapter 5. Test Design and Documentation Item 20: Divide and Conquer
Item 21: Mandate the Use of a TestProcedure Template and Other TestDesign Standards Item 22: Derive Effective Test Cases from Requirements Item 23: Treat Test Procedures As "Living" Documents Item 24: Utilize System Design and Prototypes Item 25: Use Proven Testing Techniques when Designing Test-Case Scenarios Item