Books

Books are great, the more you read the more you learn, I really think they'll catch on one day when this interweb craze blows over. The problem is knowing which of the many books to read. Well, here's a form of 'reading list' for you that covers those that I have on my book shelf.

There are of course many more, but you can use Amazon search if you want a shopping list. As there never seems to be enough time to stop and read these days I hope you'll find the guidance useful in directing your study. If you read any others that you recommend let me know!

When I first skimmed through the book I thought, oh great a whole bunch of incomplete views that they couldn't make a book out of, then realising they'd made a book out of it, sneaky. As I read through some of the individual lessons, made easy as all 293 are listed out under handy topic headings in the table of contents, I realised that what this book actually provides. It gives you 293 across the desk brief mentoring sessions that you wish you could with some guru like character. This book is like having Kaner, Bach or Pettichord sat there working with you, answering your questions in a thought provoking and considered way. You may not agree completely with the authors views and that's a good thing, lesson 294.

Typical lessons are ones such as number 32, "You discover requirements by conference, inference and reference", provide useful insight over a few paragraphs that will help you approach this area with more options for getting requirements in hand. However, the whole book isn't like this and in fact the end of chapter three's Addendum to Techniques is 19 pages of step by step examples, usable lists and definitions that reminded me of content in Kaner et al Testing Computer Software.

This book isn't a comprehensive guide to software testing. If you're totally green some of the content might appear to lack a cohesive structure, you may not find links you expect. If however you've got some background in this domain it'll serve to compliment and possibly challenge your views. Sometimes this book serves to tell you that in fact you're approach is right in your testing context, make that lesson 295.

If you're in need of guidance and looking for a lightweight collection of ideas around a particular topic such as test techniques, automation or test documents then this is a great book to get a useful idea of the topic. If you want to get some thoughts clear in your mind or get extra vocabulary for discussing topics you already know, then again this book will provide that and some new perspectives to boot.

An enjoyable, readable and useful book that wont disappoint.

The Art of Software Testing is a great book for anyone that needs a clear explanation of some of the key principles of software testing. If you're looking for a solid explanation of black box or white box, Boundary Value Analysis or Equivalence Classes and similar topics then you'll find it here. There's a superb list of 10 Principles with clear narrative that if they were kept in mind would ensure testing effort and thinking was on track project after project.

In these two areas alone there's enough clear and complete information to make anyone sound like a test professional. In fact many so called test professionals don't know this stuff in my experience.

Skip forward to sections such as the Test Case Design Strategy and you're getting step by step guidance that explains things well. Read over the explanation of Incremental testing, top-down and bottom-up and there's enough detail that it makes sense and feels you can take the knowledge and apply it. Many in our profession either don't really understand or certainly can't articulate this material, perhaps a read of this book would be advised!

On the down side the section on Cause Effect Graphing is mind boggling. I have it book-marked off after a couple of concerted efforts to understand it. Even Kaner et al in referencing this book state this as `powerful but complex' in their book Testing Computer Software, p241. Add to that the insane price and my rating has to drop a star. Don't be shy about buying this book used, it's a must buy.

This book tells you about one of the most underused tools in the QA Manager's box of tricks - the Cost of Quality. Read this book with a view to understand this principle and Crosby gives some invaluable guidance on how to go about a Cost of Quality Initiative. I have gone into job interviews with this trick up my sleeve when asking for a greater salary than they were offering and it opens peoples eyes.

Yes, it's dated and yes you need to take some of the definitions and bring them up to date. As with anything you should read many sources and take nothing as gospel. A classic that at such a low cost now is a crime not to own. When folks see Quality is Free it sure prompts some interesting conversations too!