Effective Software Testing: 50 Specific Ways to Improve your Testing by Elfriede Dustin

Copyright
Preface
Organization
Audience
Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Requirements Phase
Item 1: Involve Testers from the Beginning
Item 2: Verify the Requirements
Item 3: Design Test Procedures As Soon As Requirements Are Available
Item 4: Ensure That Requirement Changes Are Communicated
Item 5: Beware of Developing and Testing Based on an Existing System

Chapter 2. Test Planning
Item 6: Understand the Task At Hand and the Related Testing Goal
Item 7: Consider the Risks
Item 8: Base Testing Efforts on a Prioritized Feature Schedule
Item 9: Keep Software Issues in Mind
Item 10: Acquire Effective Test Data
Item 11: Plan the Test Environment
Item 12: Estimate Test Preparation and Execution Time

Chapter 3. The Testing Team
Item 13: Define Roles and Responsibilities
Item 14: Require a Mixture of Testing Skills, Subject-Matter Expertise, and Experience
Item 15: Evaluate the Tester's Effectiveness

Chapter 4. The System Architecture
Item 16: Understand the Architecture and Underlying Components
Item 17: Verify That the System Supports Testability
Item 18: Use Logging to Increase System Testability
Item 19: Verify That the System Supports Debug and Release Execution Modes

Chapter 5. Test Design and Documentation
Item 20: Divide and Conquer
Item 21: Mandate the Use of a Test-Procedure Template and Other Test-Design Standards
Item 22: Derive Effective Test Cases from Requirements
Item 23: Treat Test Procedures As "Living" Documents
Item 24: Utilize System Design and Prototypes
Item 25: Use Proven Testing Techniques when Designing Test-Case Scenarios
Item 26: Avoid Including Constraints and Detailed Data Elements within Test Procedures
Item 27: Apply Exploratory Testing

Chapter 6. Unit Testing
Item 28: Structure the Development Approach to Support Effective Unit Testing
Item 29: Develop Unit Tests in Parallel or Before the Implementation
Item 30: Make Unit-Test Execution Part of the Build Process

Chapter 7. Automated Testing Tools
Item 31: Know the Different Types of Testing-Support Tools
Item 32: Consider Building a Tool Instead of Buying One
Item 33: Know the Impact of Automated Tools on the Testing Effort
Item 34: Focus on the Needs of Your Organization
Item 35: Test the Tools on an Application Prototype

Chapter 8. Automated Testing: Selected Best Practices
Item 36: Do Not Rely Solely on Capture/Playback
Item 37: Develop a Test Harness When Necessary
Item 38: Use Proven Test-Script Development Techniques
Item 39: Automate Regression Tests When Feasible
Item 40: Implement Automated Builds and Smoke Tests

Chapter 9. Nonfunctional Testing
Item 41: Do Not Make Nonfunctional Testing an Afterthought
Item 42: Conduct Performance Testing with Production-Sized Databases
Item 43: Tailor Usability Tests to the Intended Audience
Item 44: Consider All Aspects of Security, for Specific Requirements and System-Wide
Item 45: Investigate the System's Implementation To Plan for Concurrency Tests
Item 46: Set Up an Efficient Environment for Compatibility Testing

Chapter 10. Managing Test Execution
Item 47: Clearly Define the Beginning and End of the Test-Execution Cycle
Item 48: Isolate the Test Environment from the Development Environment
Item 49: Implement a Defect-Tracking Life Cycle
Item 50: Track the Execution of the Testing Program