Plenty of software testing books tell you how to test well; this one tells you how to do it while decreasing your testing budget. A series of essays written by some of the leading minds in software testing, How to Reduce the Cost of Software Testing provides tips, tactics, and techniques to help readers accelerate the testing process, improve the performance of the test teams, and lower costs. The distinguished team of contributors—that includes corporate test leaders, best paper authors, and keynote speakers from leading software testing conferences—supply concrete suggestions on how to find cost savings without sacrificing outcome. Detailing strategies that testers can immediately put to use to reduce costs, the book explains how to make testing nimble, how to remove bottlenecks in the testing process, and how to locate and track defects efficiently and effectively. Written in language accessible to non-technical executives, as well as those doing the testing, the book considers the latest advances in test automation, ideology, and technology. Rather than present the perspective of one or two experts in software testing, it supplies the wide-ranging perspectives of a team of experts to help ensure your team can deliver a completed test cycle in less time, with more confidence, and reduced costs.

Plenty of software testing books tell you how to test well; this one tells you how to do it while decreasing your testing budget. A series of essays written by some of the leading minds in software testing, How to Reduce the Cost of Software Testing provides tips, tactics, and techniques to help readers accelerate the testing process, improve the performance of the test teams, and lower costs. The distinguished team of contributors—that includes corporate test leaders, best paper authors, and keynote speakers from leading software testing conferences—supply concrete suggestions on how to find cost savings without sacrificing outcome. Detailing strategies that testers can immediately put to use to reduce costs, the book explains how to make testing nimble, how to remove bottlenecks in the testing process, and how to locate and track defects efficiently and effectively. Written in language accessible to non-technical executives, as well as those doing the testing, the book considers the latest advances in test automation, ideology, and technology. Rather than present the perspective of one or two experts in software testing, it supplies the wide-ranging perspectives of a team of experts to help ensure your team can deliver a completed test cycle in less time, with more confidence, and reduced costs.

“This book fills a huge gap in our knowledge of software testing. It does an excellent job describing how test automation differs from other test activities, and clearly lays out what kind of skills and knowledge are needed to automate tests. The book is essential reading for students of testing and a bible for practitioners.” –Jeff Offutt, Professor of Software Engineering, George Mason University “This new book naturally expands upon its predecessor, Automated Software Testing, and is the perfect reference for software practitioners applying automated software testing to their development efforts. Mandatory reading for software testing professionals!” –Jeff Rashka, PMP, Coauthor of Automated Software Testing and Quality Web Systems Testing accounts for an increasingly large percentage of the time and cost of new software development. Using automated software testing (AST), developers and software testers can optimize the software testing lifecycle and thus reduce cost. As technologies and development grow increasingly complex, AST becomes even more indispensable. This book builds on some of the proven practices and the automated testing lifecycle methodology (ATLM) described in Automated Software Testing and provides a renewed practical, start-to-finish guide to implementing AST successfully. In Implementing Automated Software Testing, three leading experts explain AST in detail, systematically reviewing its components, capabilities, and limitations. Drawing on their experience deploying AST in both defense and commercial industry, they walk you through the entire implementation process–identifying best practices, crucial success factors, and key pitfalls along with solutions for avoiding them. You will learn how to: Make a realistic business case for AST, and use it to drive your initiative Clarify your testing requirements and develop an automation strategy that reflects them Build efficient test environments and choose the right automation tools and techniques for your environment Use proven metrics to continuously track your progress and adjust accordingly Whether you’re a test professional, QA specialist, project manager, or developer, this book can help you bring unprecedented efficiency to testing–and then use AST to improve your entire development lifecycle.

“Don’s book is a very good addition both to the testing literature and to the literature on quality assurance and software engineering... . [It] is likely to become a standard for test training as well as a good reference for professional testers and developers. I would also recommend this book as background material for negotiating outsourced software contracts. I often work as an expert witness in litigation for software with very poor quality, and this book might well reduce or eliminate these lawsuits....” –Capers Jones, VP and CTO, Namcook Analytics LLC Software and system testers repeatedly fall victim to the same pitfalls. Think of them as “anti-patterns”: mistakes that make testing far less effective and efficient than it ought to be. In Common System and Software Testing Pitfalls, Donald G. Firesmith catalogs 92 of these pitfalls. Drawing on his 35 years of software and system engineering experience, Firesmith shows testers and technical managers and other stakeholders how to avoid falling into these pitfalls, recognize when they have already fallen in, and escape while minimizing their negative consequences. Firesmith writes for testing professionals and other stakeholders involved in large or medium-sized projects. His anti-patterns and solutions address both “pure software” applications and “software-reliant systems,” encompassing heterogeneous subsystems, hardware, software, data, facilities, material, and personnel. For each pitfall, he identifies its applicability, characteristic symptoms, potential negative consequences and causes, and offers specific actionable recommendations for avoiding it or limiting its consequences. This guide will help you Pinpoint testing processes that need improvement–before, during, and after the project Improve shared understanding and collaboration among all project participants Develop, review, and optimize future project testing programs Make your test documentation far more useful Identify testing risks and appropriate risk-mitigation strategies Categorize testing problems for metrics collection, analysis, and reporting Train new testers, QA specialists, and other project stakeholders With 92 common testing pitfalls organized into 14 categories, this taxonomy of testing pitfalls should be relatively complete. However, in spite of its comprehensiveness, it is also quite likely that additional pitfalls and even missing categories of pitfalls will be identified over time as testers read this book and compare it to their personal experiences. As an enhancement to the print edition, the author has provided the following location on the web where readers can find major additions and modifications to this taxonomy of pitfalls: http://donald.firesmith.net/home/common-testing-pitfalls Please send any recommended changes and additions to dgf (at) sei (dot) cmu (dot) edu, and the author will consider them for publication both on the website and in future editions of this book.

This is the digital version of hte printed book (Copyright © 1997). Software testers require technical and political skills to survive what can often be a lose-lose relationship with developers and managers. Whether testing is your specialty or your stepping stone to a career as a developer, there's no better way to survive the pressures put on testers than to meet the ten challenges described in this practical handbook. This book goes beyond the technical skills required for effective testing to address the political realities that can't be solved by technical knowledge alone. Communication and negotiation skills must be in every tester's tool kit. Authors Perry and Rice compile a "top ten" list of the challenges faced by testers and offer tactics for success. They combine their years of experience in developing testing processes, writing books and newsletters on testing, and teaching seminars on how to test. The challenges are addressed in light of the way testing fits into the context of software development and how testers can maximize their relationships with managers, developers, and customers. In fact, anyone who works with software testers should read this book for insight into the unique pressures put on this part of the software development process. "Somewhere between the agony of rushed deadlines and the luxury of all the time in the world has got to be a reasonable approach to testing."—from Chapter 8 The Top Ten People Challenges Facing Testers Challenge #10: Getting Trained in Testing Challenge #9: Building Relationships with Developers Challenge #8: Testing Without Tools Challenge #7: Explaining Testing to Managers Challenge #6: Communicating with Customers—And Users Challenge #5: Making Time for Testing Challenge #4: Testing What's Thrown Over the Wall Challenge #3: Hitting a Moving Target Challenge #2: Fighting a Lose-Lose Situation Challenge #1: Having to Say No

Softwaretests stellen eine kritische Phase in der Softwareentwicklung dar. Jetzt zeigt sich, ob das Programm die entsprechenden Anforderungen erfüllt und sich auch keine Programmierungsfehler eingeschlichen haben. Doch wie bei allen Phasen im Software-Entwicklungsprozess gibt es auch hier eine Reihe möglicher Fallstricke, die die Entdeckung von Programmfehlern vereiteln können. Deshalb brauchen Softwaretester ein Handbuch, das alle Tipps, Tricks und die häufigsten Fehlerquellen genau auflistet und erläutert, damit mögliche Testfehler von vornherein vermieden werden können. Ein solches Handbuch ersetzt gut und gerne jahr(zehnt)elange Erfahrung und erspart dem Tester frustrierende und langwierige Trial-und-Error-Prozeduren. Chem Kaner und James Bach sind zwei der international führenden Experten auf dem Gebiet des Software Testing. Sie schöpfen hier aus ihrer insgesamt 30-jährigen Erfahrung. Die einzelnen Lektionen sind nach Themenbereichen gegliedert, wie z.B. Testdesign, Test Management, Teststrategien und Fehleranalyse. Jede Lektion enthält eine Behauptung und eine Erklärung sowie ein Beispiel des entsprechenden Testproblems. "Lessons Learned in Software Testing" ist ein unverzichtbarer Begleiter für jeden Software Tester.