Test Process Improvement: A step-by-step guide to structured testing (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Martin Pol (Author)
Key Phrases: software process improvement, total test process, test process management, Dependencies None, Test Maturity Matrix, Activity Sub-activities (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Written for the reader with a little background in software engineering and test management, Test Process Improvement is an innovative guide to improving how your organization tests software. It's got plenty to offer any test engineer or manager.

This short yet densely packed text outlines the Test Process Improvement (TPI) model for software testing. While there are other testing models available today (like the Testing Maturity Model, or TMM), the authors suggest that TPI offers more detail than its rivals. TPI measures testing effectiveness in 20 "key areas," in such categories as test strategy, metrics, tools, and communication, plus defect and test process management.

After a short overview of the kinds of testing in use today, the book delves into each of these 20 areas in considerable detail with criteria for up to four levels of effectiveness (labeled "A" through "D"). By working through these categories, an organization can both gauge its current testing process and make it better with the book's "improvement suggestions." You'll appreciate this text most if you have some interest in software engineering. (The authors, who are Dutch, write clearly, but this is by no means light reading.) There are plenty of easy-to-digest tables and lists, which will be most practical for the busy testing professional. Other useful sections include a concise tour of testing tools and the Test Management Approach (TMap), which shows how to integrate test management into the larger process of software design.

In all, Test Process Improvement can give any testing engineer or manager some practical ways to work more effectively. This is a groundbreaking blueprint for improving software testing. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Overview and guide to Test Process Improvement (TPI), types of testing, pitfalls for successful testing, measuring your organization's test maturity, 20 key areas, levels, checkpoints, suggestions for improvement, implementing TPI within your organization, TPI and the project life cycle, test planning and project estimation, metrics, advantages and limits of testing tools, test and office environments for improved testing, communication, reporting, defect management, managing the test process, evaluation, low-level testing, and Test Management Approach (TMap)--a proprietary strategy for structured testing.

Product Description

Software testing is a vital component of the software development process, but few organizations expend any effort optimizing the process to make it more efficient. Although in practice it can be hard to define what steps need to be taken, models such as the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) have been successful in helping organizations improve their software process and TPI aims to do a similar thing for the testing part of the software process. The TPI model offers a frame of reference which helps to determine the strong and weak points in an organization's current test practice, and gives specific and realistic suggestions for the improvement of the test process in terms of lead time, costs and quality.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (June 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201596245
• ISBN-13: 978-0201596243
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #586,986 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A practical way to reach CMM level 3, February 16, 2000

By A Customer

If your job is to manage the test process in your company or in a project this book will be very helpful. There are many questions in the book, which helps to find out the level of the test process in your company. You find practical hints what to do to improve your test process. These hints are not of that kind: "Use test method xy or buy test tool ABC". The hints are concrete and helpful descriptions what to do. The TPI model is especially developed for improving the test process. It supports the definition of small, controlled and practical improvement steps, based on priorities. The TPI model is independent of other Software Process Improvement models and can be used regardless of the fact whether an organisation tries to improve the total software process or just the test process. If you try to use the CMM Model to improve your test process you will soon discover that it does not offer much help. It contains too little detailed insight and it is difficult to define a gradual improvement path for the test process. The TPI model offers the necessary details and can be very helpful to reach CMM level 3 regarding testing activities.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For mature, stable test organizations, May 18, 2002

By	Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This book provides a coherent process improvement approach for software testing. It provides a model that supports the assessment of strengths and weaknesses of an existing software testing process and an approach for developing and implementing remedial action to rectify the weaknesses. As such this book is not useful to organizations that have not achieved a mature and stable testing process because the model will not apply. If you are seeking a book that will get your processes stable you will find "Systematic Software Testing" by Rick D. Craig and Stefan P. Jaskiel a better place to start.

However, if your processes are stable this book is among the best because it stays focused on improving the testing process and does so in the same manner that SEI's CMM does for software development. In fact, the TPI approach in this book is cross-referenced to the CMM, which gives you an approach that can be viewed as a testing maturity model that aligns nicely with the CMM (including the newer CMMI). This is one of the strong points of the book and TPI.

Another thing to know about this book is that it's written more like a specification than a narrative. Some readers may find this difficult, but if you are involved in mapping the TPI key process areas to the CMM (or SPICE, Bootstrap or PSM), you'll appreciate the format. Also, the book views TPI as a subset of software process improvement, and software process improvement as a subset of TQM. While the authors focus on the software testing process, they do not isolate it from the bigger picture. This allows you to view then entire quality process as a coherent whole when you're assessing the software testing process and developing improvement strategies.

I personally think this book adds considerably to the software testing body of knowledge, and that the approach the authors give is both practical and sensible. If you work in an organization that has a stable testing process or is at CMM level 2 or above this book is essential reading.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wery useful method to rely on, June 26, 2001

By	Mattias Nordin (Stockholm, --- Sweden) - See all my reviews

As a senior test engineer consultant I was asked to do a investigation on how we had worked in the test team in a project, and provide feedback to the QA organization. I was using this method and found it wery helpful! This book, unlike most other books with this subject, goes straight to the problem and and is not focused on the number of pages...