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Lessons Learned in Software Testing: A Context-Driven Approach 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Bret Pettichord (Author), Cem Kaner (Author), James Bach (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 271 ratings
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Decades of software testing experience condensed into the most important lessons learned.

The world's leading software testing experts lend you their wisdom and years of experience to help you avoid the most common mistakes in testing software. Each lesson is an assertion related to software testing, followed by an explanation or example that shows you the how, when, and why of the testing lesson. More than just tips, tricks, and pitfalls to avoid, Lessons Learned in Software Testing speeds you through the critical testing phase of the software development project without the extensive trial and error it normally takes to do so. The ultimate resource for software testers and developers at every level of expertise, this guidebook features:
* Over 200 lessons gleaned from over 30 years of combined testing experience
* Tips, tricks, and common pitfalls to avoid by simply reading the book rather than finding out the hard way
* Lessons for all key topic areas, including test design, test management, testing strategies, and bug reporting
* Explanations and examples of each testing trouble spot help illustrate each lesson's assertion
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Previous page
  1. ISBN-13
    978-0471081128
  2. Edition
    1st
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Wiley
  5. Publication date
    April 21, 2008
  6. Language
    English
  7. File size
    2054 KB
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"If testing is something that is going to be an important part of your career buy this book and read it carefully." (CVu - Jnl of the Association C & C++ Users, February 2002)

"...a real gem?for me, this book is one that I shall find useful?each and every test department should have several copies available...be prepared to be inspired, or at the very least to have your ideas challenged..." (Professional Tester, September 2002)

"...a refreshing and enjoyable book?it will not be 'shelf-ware', but a well-used reference..." (Software Testing, Verification & Reliability, March 2003)

"...will make fascinating reading?highly recommended..." (CVu, Dec 03)

Review

"...part of a rare breed of informative books which are both accessible to beginners whilst still being of great use to experts. No matter how much you know about software testing, Kaner, Bach and Pettiford still have a few lessons to teach you..." (M2 Communications, 7 June 2002)

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000S1LVBS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 1st edition (April 21, 2008)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 21, 2008
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2054 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 536 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 271 ratings

About the authors

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Previous page
  1. Cem Kaner

    Cem Kaner

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    Cem Kaner is Professor of Software Engineering and Director of the Center for Software Testing Education & Research at the Florida Institute of Technology, which was recently (2012) rated as a Tier 1 Best National University by U.S. News & World Report, as one of America's Top Colleges by Forbes, and as the Best College for Return on Investment in Florida by Bloomberg Businessweek. He holds doctorates in law and in experimental psychology.

    Kaner is the lead author of Testing Computer Software, Lessons Learned in Software Testing, Bad Software, and second author of the BBST Instructor's Manual. Kaner is also the primary creator of the widely praised collection of BBST online testing courses including Foundations of Software Testing, Bug Advocacy, and Test Design. He is one of the founders of the Association for Software Testing and, for many years, served as Vice-President of Education. He founded AST’s Education Special Interest Group and served as Chair for several years. Under his leadership, AST sponsored BBST classes that reached hundreds of testers around the world and trained dozens of instructors to teach using BBST materials.

    Kaner co-created the Los Altos Workshops on Software Testing with Brian Lawrence & Drew Pritsker. Kaner now hosts the LAWST-style Workshops on Teaching Software Testing (now in their 12th year). The LAWST format has been widely adopted in the United States (e.g. AWTA, IWST, WReST, and WOPR), Canada (TWST, WWST, and POST), Europe (DEWT, GATE, and SWET), New Zealand (KWST) and Australia (OZWST).

    Kaner has also played a role in the software testing community as an attorney, focused on the law of software quality. He helped draft legislation and judicial guidelines. His work helped shape (and is repeatedly quoted in) the American Law Institute's Principles of the Law of Software Contracts.

    Cem has been honored for his legal work by the American Law Institute, which elected him as a member, and by the Association for Computing Machinery with its "Making a Difference Award" which is "presented to an individual who is widely recognized for work related to the interaction of computers and society. The recipient is a leader in promoting awareness of ethical and social issues in computing."

    See more on the author's page
  2. James Bach

    James Bach

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    James Marcus Bach is an expert in the field of computer software testing who has taught critical thinking and software testing to rocket and nuclear scientists at such places as the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He lives in Eastsound, Washington with his wife and son.

    In addition to the books he has authored and co-authored. James has also contributed chapters to several technical books including The Gift of Time, Edited by Fiona Charles, The Testing Practitioner by Erik van Veenendal, Visual Basic for Testers by Mary Romero Sweeney, and Essential Software Test Design, by Torbjörn Ryber.

    Twitter:

    @jamesmarcusbach

    Websites:

    http://www.buccaneerscholar.com

    http://www.satisfice.com

    See more on the author's page
  3. Bret Pettichord

    Bret Pettichord

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
271 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Bas Vodde
5.0 out of 5 stars Many insights into testing
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2009
Verified Purchase
"Lessons learned in software testing" provides 293 lessons the authors learned during their many years working as software testers, test managers and consultants. This book is perhaps one of the most insightful books on testing ever written. It covers a broad range of testing issues and most of the topics are relevant outside the world of testing. To give an example, the authors discussions related to documentation, standards or licensing are not limited to testing. They clearly explain their thinking behind their arguments and parts like these are useful reads for anyone!

The book is organized around 293 lessons which are a paragraph to a couple pages long. The lessons are organized around eleven chapters. At first, I was annoyed by the structure of the book, but as I got used to it, I started to appreciate the structure in different lessons. Especially since it helped the authors in expressing conflicting thoughts well.

The first chapters cover the most basic questions. The first is about the role a tester has and already here the authors present a perhaps controversial view on testing as a service as opposed to as a quality police, which is often seen in larger organizations. The second chapter relates to how to think as a tester. It provides interesting references in completely different knowledge areas which might help testers become better. The third chapter is somewhat misplaced in the book, though still useful. It's a chapter that covers different testing techniques. It doesn't cover it thoroughly, but that is not the purpose of this book. For more thorough coverage of testing techniques, its probably better to pick up another book.

The fourth chapter is about writing bugs. Its insightful since it especially clarifies a lot about the role of testing from the authors perspective. The fifth chapter covers test automation and makes important observations related to test automation... especially that test automation is not the same as automated manual testing. I found the wording insightful and again stresses the role of the tester and especially the skill of testers.

Chapter six is perhaps one of the more controversial ones about documenting testing. As a logical conclusion from the focus on the role of tester (mentioned earlier), it makes sense to limit the documentation somewhat. Documentation is not a substitute for skill. However, they provide a balanced view and do not recommend to throw your documentation out of the window, but instead analyze your particular situation and create only the documentation that is needed.

The next three chapters relate to working with other persons. First how to work with programmers, then how to manage a testing project and how to manage a testing group. Chapter ten relates to building a testing career. Also here, some of the advise is general to "a career", not specifically a testing one.

The last chapter about strategy seemed to me somewhat odd. The book would have ended well with the manage your testing career and its not totally clear to me why the authors added this chapter still. It's not useless, just doesn't seem to fit in very well.

All in all, the book is a good read! It's funny and very insightful and sometimes controversial. I was considering a rating of four or five stars. I was thinking about four since I did not always agree with the authors for example, on their views on test automation. Though, lots has been learned about that the last years! On the other hand, I do not know any more insightful book related to this subject. And, I'd even recommend it to people who do not do software testing at all! So, therefore I decided to go for five stars! Well worth reading!
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Anon
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for software testers
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2012
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I am a professional software tester. I found this book to be very good, full of great advice.

I followed their advice of reading a little bit at a time - every day I read the book for 10 minutes. I was able to finish the book in just under 2 months. Would recommend this method for reading this book, because it is quite long.

The book changed my philosophy on testing. I was starting to get a bit bored at my job because I am asked to run the same set of tests over and over. Now, instead of looking at those tests as just a list of tests I have to run exactly the same each time, I look at each test as a jumping off point to explore the application in more depth and find more bugs.

I think the thing that I loved the most about this book is how the authors are so interested in testing and different methodologies. They are kinda like the "cool" teacher you had in high school, they make testing seem interesting! (I mean, it is, but after a while in testing, if you are at the wrong company, it can seem less interesting). If you've gotten burnt out on testing, this book can give you your spark back!

The only small criticism I have is that the way the sections were organized seemed a little odd. Oh well, definately not enough to give this book any less than 5 stars!
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Dr. G. Hinson
4.0 out of 5 stars Learn from someone else's experience
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2007
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Through a series of nearly 300 "lessons", the authors share their accumulated wisdom about how to test application systems - not so much which buttons to press but more how to establish and manage a test team, plan the work and dynamically adjust the testing process according to what is found and how much time is left.

The chapter titles ably illustrate the book's scope: 1. Role of the tester; 2. Thinking like a tester; 3. Testing techniques; 4. Bug advocacy; 5. Automating testing; 6. Documenting testing; 7. Interacting with programmers; 8. Managing the testing project; 9. Managing the testing group; 10. Your career in software testing; 11. Planning the testing strategy; [Appendix] The context driven approach to software testing.

I would definitely encourage anyone who thinks `test automation' is a great idea and is perhaps contemplating the purchase and use of automation tools, to read chapter 5 before they commit the budget and finalize the project plans. The authors eloquently explain the advantages and disadvantages of common automation techniques such as user input replay tools, providing a real-world counter to the tool vendors' optimistic sales pitches. They don't say "Forget it", rather "If you can live with these significant drawbacks, automated testing may be useful for a certain subset of testing activities". This is a good example of the pragmatism and wisdom found throughout the book.

The book is not an academic treatise full of theoretical constructs/models and testing methodologies. Nor is it a step-by-step manual on how to test a system. It is an excellent read for testing practitioners who are seeking or at least open to advice on how to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. "This book is for anyone who test software, anyone who manages testers, and anyone who has to deal with testers in their software development projects. That includes project managers and executives." The hints and tips plus career development advice are valuable for testers, especially if they have a few years testing under their belts already. The technical content is minimal and should be readily understood by any IT professional while the management advice should be appreciated by those with management experience or who aspire to become managers.

The book strongly encourages testers to work with developers and project managers, becoming an integral and valuable part of the team rather than an impediment to progress and a threat to delivery deadlines (lesson 12 is typically direct: "Never be the gatekeeper"!). The subtitle's reference to being `context driven' introduces a dynamic approach to testing, relating test activities to the development lifecycle and promoting those that will be of most help to the project at any point. The approach is described further in the appendix but is only subtly referenced elsewhere, unlike certain other books that insist on pushing their One Big Idea down the reader's throat at every possible opportunity.

All three authors clearly have solid testing experience, some 60 work-years between them. There are also numerous (but not intrusive) citations to other helpful resources, further demonstrating the authors' pedigree. Cem Kaner, a consultant and IT professor at Florida Institute of Technology, was the lead author of  Testing Computer Software, 2nd Edition , one of my all time favorite IT books. Cem also practices law. James Bach is the founder of a software testing and QA company with silicon valley experience. Bret Pettichord is an independent consultant who edits the Software Testing Hotlist and founded the Austin Workshop on Test Automation.

The "lessons" format leads to a somewhat disjointed flow in places although overall the book is well-structured. At times, successive lessons are directly contradictory, again emphasizing the need for readers to be both alert and open-minded. This is another example of being `context-driven'. Which lesson you choose to follow depends on the circumstances facing you, a form of contingency planning if you will.
Unusually for a published book, several critical comments from reviewers of the draft, as well as occasional differences of opinion or approach between the three authors, are included as footnotes or asides. The authors openly acknowledge the ambiguities and leave the reader to think about them and make the final decision - I like that. This is a book for grown-ups. There are valiant attempts to describe and promote `the tester's nose', that seemingly innate ability of experienced and successful testers to sniff-out aspects of the system that are likely to harbor serious bugs and to design targeted tests that will reveal them. The advice on unstructured `guerilla testing' is not quite so useful, in my opinion, but I'm impressed that the book even tackles such ephemeral concepts.

Even if you only learn something new from a few of the lessons, this book is well worth the purchase price. Testers relatively new to the profession will learn more than grey-beards but even they will probably find some of the suggestions make them re-think long-established ways of working (habits) and subconscious assumptions (prejudices). In the main, the lessons are pragmatic. Some are a bit contentious, perhaps deliberately, and most are both thought provoking and helpful.

Bottom line: recommended for any thinking person involved in application testing including development project managers and IT auditors.
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David
5.0 out of 5 stars Bitesized wisdom to keep you thinking
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2023
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This isn't my first copy of the book, nor the first time I've "read" the book.

Why "read"? The book is a series of smaller lessons across the broader topic of software testing.

Sometimes I'll read all the lessons in a chapter; other times I'll read just a single lesson: it depends on the context of the challenge I'm currently facing.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Rodolfo
5.0 out of 5 stars Importantes lições no desenvolvimento de testes de software
Reviewed in Brazil on March 8, 2024
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Embora um pouco desatualizado, o livro tem exemplos importantes para serem usados no desenvolvimento de testes de software no contexto atual.
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Enamul Hoq
3.0 out of 5 stars Book paper is not toppen
Reviewed in Sweden on November 3, 2023
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I have received the book on time which is very good. The paper of the book is not high quality.
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Sheikh F.
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that teaches the fundamentals
Reviewed in Germany on December 20, 2022
Verified Purchase
It ain't one of those books that dictate theory and prepares you for a fixed curriculum on gaining a certification. There's plenty room for self-reflection, how to approach everyday QA errands and how to improve progressively over time. I am always recommending this book to my colleagues. This is a must-read for everyone on your team.
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elena ivanova
5.0 out of 5 stars A great book
Reviewed in Italy on December 14, 2022
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It's such a great book, a lot of humor and good advice. As it's written, you have to know the basics first but oh, so much you can learn here!
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Terrin Thampan
5.0 out of 5 stars Good for Novice testers
Reviewed in India on July 6, 2022
Verified Purchase
Learning about these lessons early helps in identifying oppurtunities and pitfalls faster.
Recommend for Novice and Experienced testers
Read the lesson headings quickly, then read fully.
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