How to Reduce the Cost of Software Testing

By: 
Matthew Heusser, Govind Kulkarni
Published: 
2011
Pages: 
340
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Book Description

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 that is 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.

Member Reviews: 

Review By: Stuart M. Miller
04/06/2012

Each chapter of this book is written by a different author. It offers many different perspectives and solutions related to reducing software testing costs. While it can be good to explore multiple ideas and perspectives within one book, it can also make the book difficult to follow from beginning to end. I found that as I got comfortable with each writer’s style, the chapter suddenly ended and it was as if I was reading the first chapter of a new book. Some of these writers are great storytellers, while others write about complex specific examples that were difficult for me to relate to.

While the book's concept made it a struggle for me to read, there are multiple points of brilliance and some of the chapters left me wanting more—so much so that I put down the book and started researching more about those chapters' topics. The chapters on session-based test management and science-based test case design sent me looking for whole books on these topics. These are things anyone can use and reduce costs with. Conversely, the chapters summarizing strategies for testing cost analysis and measurement felt out of place, as they offered no real solution to reduce costs.

A truly amazing part of this book is the appendices. While this is something I usually skip past, the information here provided immediate value. I particularly liked appendices A and B, both of which offered immediate strategies and suggestions that any tester or test manager can use right now.

Overall, I liked this book. I found the chapters on testing strategies and concepts the most valuable. I will incorporate some of the tools and techniques into my QA team immediately.

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