Software leaders, directors, and managers of all types need to know about software testing. It can be a tough climb up the mountain of technical jargon. Engineers seem to be speaking a language all their own sometimes. Most books on testing are deep in the weeds with technical terms and techniques that simply aren’t applicable even to technical managers.

This book provides a high-level perspective on broad topics in a friendly, easy-to-absorb style. Get started and up to speed quickly with immediately useful, actionable guidance. Guidance on team structure, best practices and even common pitfalls will save you time and money, while automation and code reuse will provide exponential value.

There’s a gap of knowledge between engineers and their managers; they are almost speaking different languages and the jargon can be confusing. There’s a lot to know about the world of testing. Test from the Top delivers quick, concise guidance to bridge the gap! It offers clear, actionable steps and is a must have for busy leaders who need quick answers.

What You Will Learn:

How and where to integrate testing in the software development lifecycle

Testing terminology and concepts from a management perspective

Common pitfalls of testing, how to avoid wasted time

How to hire test-aware teams

The value in reusing test code for more generalized automation

Who This Book is for:

Software managers, Lead Software Engineers, Tech Directors, CTOs, Project Managers, software leaders of all kinds. These leaders understand the value of testing, but have not yet built out extensive automation or team structure. Either new to testing concepts or modernizing systems or looking to improve software quality. Assumed to have a working knowledge of the Software Development Lifecycle and basic project management (no specific methodology required).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Test Awareness

Chapter 2: Test-Driven Development vs. Test During Development

Chapter 3: Quality and Assurance

Chapter 4: Specification

Chapter 5: Automation Reuse

Chapter 6: Coverage

Chapter 7: Security

Chapter 8: Conclusion

Chapter 9: Pitfalls

About the Author

Ross Radford is the founder of TestfromtheTop.com and is on a mission to bring test awareness to leadership. He has spent a career developing and testing enterprise level software for huge projects serving millions of users. No matter the size of the organization, if you’re building software, testing is crucial. Leaders are in a unique position to unblock and prioritize quality assurance at every level. Personally, as a software professional, testing has been a deep interest motivated by improving craft and quality. Radford developed knowledge sharing presentations for peers and conference talks, with the common feedback from software engineers: “This is great. Now convince my boss!” He set out to do just that.