Customer Reviews

Automated Software Testing: Introduction, Management, and Performance

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Reviewed by Erick Griffin, September 4, 1999

When seeing the title of this book for the first time I must admit I was immediately intrigued by its topic, being a member of Tivoli's Test Automation Group and all. Its title promised that between its covers all would be revealed regarding what automation means to software testing. It does in fact deliver on this main theme rather well. Moreover, depending upon your interest in test automation one might not be able to consider all points brought up by this book applicable to their specific area of expertise. It is however, an excellent place to start!

Below is outline of the book and what the reader will find hidden away in its pages.

Chapter 1. The first chapter discusses some of the more mundane aspects of how to define automated software testing. A necessary evil but for those already familiar with this topic you may want to skip this. Chapter 2. Mostly a discussion on the topic of 'why' software testing automation is so necessary today. Most of what the authors cite as to improving partnerships with development teams and improvements in some of the more important issues of testing are all good lessons that should be learned and clearly understood. This chapter also delves into two other important areas, the real benefits of automation and how to get management support for test automation goals. The latter is most important, the how in making management understand what the correct expectation of automated software testing should be is all important before pursuing any automation strategy. Chapters 3 and 4. Here are the 'meat and potato' chapters on how to correctly evaluate and consider test automation tools. This should be read by anyone who is considering the purchase of a tool that would perform any test automation; and gives a good account of all of the tool areas that must be considered, (e.g. source code testing tools, load/performance/stress test tools). A valuable chapter in learning what the Test Life-Cycle Tools are and what they do. Important for anyone wanting to properly weight an insistent salesperson's marketing hype! Chapter 5. Management only, enough said. Chapters 6 through 9. These are the core chapters of the book and should be read by anyone and everyone interested in overall test considerations. They therefore serve as a guide to overall test planning, development and other considerations, always with a slant on automation. Though most will find these chapters full the normal stuff any verification engineer needs to consider. Chapter 10. People responsible for deploying and managing a software test automation project will want to consider reading this chapter. Here is where the benefits are explained, it gives you a good understanding when and where the payoffs are. One of the more tacit points made in this chapter is that automation is not a short term solution to any problem. It is a long term solution and must become an integral way of life in any verification organization. Appendices. These provide information on How to Test Requirements, Tools That Support the Automated Testing Life Cycle pretty good!, Test Engineer Development good for management and your knowing your own skills and where they fit, A Sample Test Plan in case you've never seen one (I would hope this wasn't the case).

This book should be purchased by anyone who is concerned with test automation. It should be used by those development and verification individuals who need to be concerned with automation topics in their areas to help reduce costs and relieve critical resources to accomplish their group's overall product goals. These individuals include but are not limited to:

All second and first line development and verification management who really need to understand how, when and where automation should be done and why! All senior engineers who need to consider test automation during software design and development. Any company wide organizations whose charter it is to develop and deploy automation tools and technologies to their organizations. And last but not least, any other individuals who might stand to gain from learning how automated software testing might improve their understanding of the need to reduce costs and test resources, while increasing the level of test repeatability and reuse in their areas of verification.

Most organizations establish verification groups only after a product has been developed. These groups are therefore usually well behind the eight ball before they even start to consider such topics as test automation. This book could prevent such organizations from making costly mistakes with test processes and automation that most organizations do when starting.

Finally and most importantly it can be used to help define automated software testing in an organization that is already in place. It can help correct its direction towards the necessary amount of automation a group needs. Most of all it can help reduce the resources needed during verification in the long run, which ultimately drive a better product out the door. This is after all what most customers demand from the computer industry today, isn't it?!

If your organization is interested in having a mature automated testing process, you need this book. This book will guide you throughout the entire process from thinking about standards to implementing and maintaining them. After several years in QA, I did not have a complete appreciation for all the things that could and should be done until I read this book.

I am using the information available in this book to implement the quality assurance process for my organization and I am making the book required reading for all testers. In addition to all the important information on testing in general, the book also contains many other useful resources including a wonderful sample test plan.

Automated Software Testing: Introduction, Management and Performance is an invaluable resource for everyone involved in software quality assurance, from people thinking about entering the field to seasoned individuals who manage the testing process for their organization. If you are involved in QA or want to be involved, get this book.

I am not the world's most experienced test manager, but I've been doing it for some time now, and although I knew there was a lot more to learn, I thought I knew the basics. But I had read not even 5 pages of this book before I had my pad of paper out and was scribbling down all the things I needed to do to improve my department. Most of them don't even have to do with test automation! Just software quality management.

The book presents a test automation methodology which is practical, useful, and complete, encompassing the state of the art of test automation as it stands right now (with the exception of some very recent developments in automated testing such as model-based testing, still in its infancy). One small thing I've learned: Our shop has already chosen a tool, so I skipped reading that part of the lifecycle, but wound up coming back to it when the authors discussed how to test the tool when it gets upgraded. I'm anticipating a tool upgrade soon, and there are lot of aspects of my testing that can be negatively affected if I don't plan for them. Now, I'm planning for them and expect to have a smooth transition, and to have confidence that my tool will continue to do the job with the scripts I've already written.

The automation methodology, though, really serves as a focal point around which the authors place a tremendous amount of information about how to perform software quality inspection.

Admittedly I would not take this book to read on the beach. First, the amount of work there is to do to run a test group well is staggering, and the authors are determined to jam it all in here. They make you concentrate. Second, they write using an extremely dry style, which doesn't obscure the points they make, but doesn't inject much life into them either. (I suppose if you want personality, you can always read Boris Beizer. But I still hear my old English major self talking: "Stop using the passive voice! Make somebody DO something!" Forgive my outburst - I feel better now.)

Elfriede Dustin and Jeffrey Rashka have packed this book with knowledge about how to run your testing and your defect-prevention efforts. They don't say it's easy, but they do map the territory very well. I will use and re-use this book for a long time.

Having been in the testing business for some years, I have yet to find a book on any aspect of software testing that is as interesting to read and as well structured as this book. The methodology (ATLM) is greatly needed, especially in my part of the world and there is also a vast amount of information relating to testing in general which it has always been difficult to find in one place. This book will be invaluable to anyone who needs to organise, plan and make decisions concerning a project test phase (this often being the area of greatest confusion in software development) and who wishes to understand and integrate the automated aspect of testing. I particularly like the extensive use of tables which give succinct descriptions of many of the key areas in testing.

I plan to adopt the principles and methodology fully in my test consultancy which I shall use alongside my company's own test management application.

Congratulations to all concerned. This is easily the best book in my extensive testing library!

Unfortunately this book (like nearly all other books on software testing) does not teach you how to test software. Instead it only gives you information needed to manage software testing. And, like many other books of management, it is highly repetitive and redundant. For somebody needing compressed information this is the wrong book. I think it would be no big deal to reduce the number of pages to 50% and still deliver the same message. The exmamples given in the text read like from a psychology book, not like from a technical book. Despite my critique I have to admit that the annexes in the book can be highly valuable. Personally I liked best the review of the big number of test tools.

I recently joined a firm that simply wanted to purchase an automated test tool within two weeks; "it made little difference which tool". Using this book, they became convinced we should install at least three tools, on evaluation. Good thing we did: we found that only one could deal with "customized" Java applets used in their applications.

Little did our test team know beforehand that new automated tools require evaluation: what technologies are your applications using? what levels of test planning and scripting skills will be required for each tool? what other tools may be necessary sooner or later? and, does your test tool vendor of choice market such complementary tools? And much, much more.

"Automated Software Testing" guides readers through each step in the planning, selection, and implementation process to assure that automated software testing will be developed in a systematic manner.

See the table of contents. You will find that for less than the cost of a testers time for two hours, your business will be investing in knowledge that will save perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of your applications.

As an engineer involved with software QA for a number of years, I found the book to be so generalized as to be essentially worthless. The authors devote page after page to explain methods and procedures with diagrams that depict the intuitively obvious. Their ATLM (Automated Test Life-Cycle Methodology) is as complicated as diagramming the Earth's water cycle. I don't need to spend Forty odd dollars and peruse 600 pages to learn that I might be able to use some nonspecific automated testing tool somewhere along the software development process.

Software Testing is all about methods and technology- 80% methods, 20% technology. I find the methods that are listed in this book to be sound. ...

Other topics (i.e., test project management, test cycle, test plan, etc) that are also listed in this book are well explained.

There isn't that many great books in automated software testing or general software testing .

However, the delinated concepts in this book and Graham's book (Software Test Automation) are well-written good. After reading these books, I feel most readers (beginning and intermediate SQA professionals) could have a better sense of what Automated Software Testing is about. Recommend this book very highly.

How can I possibly add to the 33 previous glowing reviews of this outstanding book? To start, this book is about much more than automated software testing - it is a guide to setting up and operating a solid testing organization. Yet, it is about much more than organizing and managing testing - it also explains how testing fits within the development life cycle and provides in-depth details on different testing techniques. It goes further still - it introduces a testing life cycle called the Automated Test Life-Cycle Methodology (ATLM), which is [in my opinion] a major contribution to the software testing profession.

The authors obviously know their stuff. They share invaluable knowledge on how to organize softwarte testing, covering every facet from building a business case to staffing considerations. This is augmented by a work breakdown structure (WBS) for implementing testing, which is a great foundation for a project plan. As someone who evangelizes using WBS as the basis for project planning and estimating I think this alone is worth the price of the book. The job descriptions for test staff, backed up with sound advice on the recruiting and interviewing process, add to the value.

Their approach to managing the testing process is the best I have ever seen, and if followed will transform any test function or organization into a cost-effective center of excellentce that will pay big dividends in downstream service delivery.

I think the clear, cogent definitions of testing techniques and associated documentation removes a lot of the ambiguity that plagues the profession. This information is a good refresher for experienced practitioners and great training material for new testers.

This book covers a lot of ground: organization, process, procedures and techniques, business case development and test management. Each of these subjects could merit an entire book, yet this book treats each in depth and detail, and sets the interrelationships among the subjects. This is no small task and earns my recommendation that if you only buy one book on software testing this should be it.

As a Software Quality Assurance manager with almost 20 years experience in the field (and automated testing experience dating back to the DOS days) I highly recommend this book.

Dustin, Rashka, and Paul have managed to articulate the best practices I've used throughout my SQA career. The ATLM (Automated Test Lifecycle Methodology) they describe in detail is valuable not only in successfully planning an *automated* testing project, but in the successful development of an overall testing strategy.

If you are looking for a deeper understanding of successful software quality assurance, especially automated testing, this should be the FIRST book you buy. The information is detailed enough that this may be the ONLY book you need to buy.