![[How Google Tests Software] [Author: Whittaker, James A.] [April, 2012]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1428760826i/25340561._UY200_.jpg)
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How Google Tests Software
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2012 Jolt Award finalist! Pioneering the Future of Software Test Do you need to get it right, too? Then, learn from Google. Legendary testing expert James Whittaker, until recently a Google testing leader, and two top Google experts reveal exactly how Google tests software, offering brand-new best practices you can use even if you're not quite Google's size...yet!
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Paperback, 281 pages
Published
April 2nd 2012
by Addison-Wesley Professional
(first published 2012)
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I learnt about quite a few useful tools, especially pyAuto for driving Chrome automation, as well as Protocol Buffers for creating class definitions and serializing data easily. However, most of the content in this book is more management than technical focused, and would probably benefit someone who is already familiar with the testing scene as it currently is than new readers trying to find ways to improve their software quality.
When I found out about the book "How Google Tests Software", it didn't take long until I had ordered a copy. I find it quite fascinating to read about how Google does things, whether it is about their development process, their infrastructure, their hiring process, or, in this case, how they test their software. I am a developer at heart, but I have worked for a few years as a tester, so testing is also dear to me.
It's quite an interesting book, and it makes some great points about the future of ...more
It's quite an interesting book, and it makes some great points about the future of ...more
This was an odd book. It's really 3 things: an internal training manual, a recruiting tool, and an external guide to Google's testing practices. The first two really got in the way of what would have otherwise been a very interesting book.
This is not a typical book. It has both good and bad.
The good: the level of technical detail, the clarity and the straightforward presentation of the authors. The book painted a picture where SET (software engineer in test) was the best technical job and TE (test engineers) are the best generalist job. (At least from a reader's point of view.) It certainly is encouraging and enlightening, particularly for google engineers.
The bad:
(1) the writing style. Oh my god, the authors have almost no ...more
The good: the level of technical detail, the clarity and the straightforward presentation of the authors. The book painted a picture where SET (software engineer in test) was the best technical job and TE (test engineers) are the best generalist job. (At least from a reader's point of view.) It certainly is encouraging and enlightening, particularly for google engineers.
The bad:
(1) the writing style. Oh my god, the authors have almost no ...more
The best book on testing (or "facilitating engineering productivity", as it's known within the book and among the google SETs (software engineers in testing)) I've ever read, though most of this will be old hat to anyone who's digested the lessons of test-driven development. read on the advice of my new manager at google.
As a budding Quality Assurance Analyst at a relatively small software company, I decided to give this book a read to get an understanding of how a big company like Google approaches software testing. I found it to full of extremely helpful information and it opened my eyes to how the rest of the tech industry approaches software testing. It goes into detail about how Google ensures that its product line is of the highest quality, featuring the various types of positions in the "Engineering
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Must read for everyone whose work related to software testing and quality assurance.
How does Google test software? how it should be tested with developers doing most of their own testing saving the manual testers for the things that are best done by a human. I like the philosophy.
In my day-to-day job as a software engineer I constantly encounter new and interesting problems in the realm of testing software. So when I found How Google Tests Software, I was very excited to find out what techniques Google employs to tackle some of these thornier problems at scale.
The opening chapters of the book do a really great job of describing the ethos of testing at Google, and very clearly defining what their goals are and how each of their roles and tools will contribute to that ...more
The opening chapters of the book do a really great job of describing the ethos of testing at Google, and very clearly defining what their goals are and how each of their roles and tools will contribute to that ...more
This book provides interesting views into how an organization (Google) worked to introduce more quality into their software development efforts. I particularly enjoyed the interviews with the team tasked with rolling out a new approach to testing within the organization. Tasking a small group of experts to drive a new program (new mindset, new approaches) into an organization is tough. And, getting exposure to how other's have faired is valuable.
Speaking of mindsets, in the spirit of ...more
Speaking of mindsets, in the spirit of ...more
I was really impressed by the responsibility that Google places on its software engineers for quality. Testing and quality belong to the entire team and not just a few people with the word Quality in their job title.
The end of the book was a surprise. It made me envision a future where quality was just built into the framework for developing applications and not something bolted on at the end. The tools are getting better and the practices are improving to the level that testers can focus on the ...more
The end of the book was a surprise. It made me envision a future where quality was just built into the framework for developing applications and not something bolted on at the end. The tools are getting better and the practices are improving to the level that testers can focus on the ...more
This book is more than 5 years old, and things move fast at a company like Google, so it's a bit outdated already. But looking beyond that, there are moments when teh book gives great insights on how google is doing certain things, and times when you say: I wish we could do the same!
So some good information, but don't expect too much from it. It"'s a rather quick read, and half of the book is interviews with people working at google.
So some good information, but don't expect too much from it. It"'s a rather quick read, and half of the book is interviews with people working at google.
This is really a four-star book, but I'm taking off one star because one chapter is more than a hundred pages long, I didn't like the page formatting, and there were more typos than I would like.
It's a pretty interesting book, great to see how Google does things. As I was reading I found myself mentally comparing my current work environment to the one described in the book and thinking about what we could do to improve our software development process.
It's a pretty interesting book, great to see how Google does things. As I was reading I found myself mentally comparing my current work environment to the one described in the book and thinking about what we could do to improve our software development process.
Interesting view on how Google did their testing back i 2012. After explaining the roles of Software Engineer in Test (SET) and Test Engineer (TE), explaining the types of tests and the tools they used, they end up saying that their approach presented several problems and they won't stick to it.
The book contains a lot of interviews and some of them are repeating or not interesting.
It's a somewhat obsolete reading, for historical purposes or to have more ideas about testing.
The book contains a lot of interviews and some of them are repeating or not interesting.
It's a somewhat obsolete reading, for historical purposes or to have more ideas about testing.
If you are waiting for tricky testing details, then this book it not what you want.
It is mostly about high-level abstract things, it also contains lots of interviews with Google's top-managers somehow related to testing.
So get ready to learn how Google interviews QAs and how they assign them to projects.
It is mostly about high-level abstract things, it also contains lots of interviews with Google's top-managers somehow related to testing.
So get ready to learn how Google interviews QAs and how they assign them to projects.
An overview of testing processes in google, mostly about test-management.
From the first view I liked the book, but now when I think about it more, I see more weak places.
Though I find it useful as you can review & compare your testing/managing process.
From the first view I liked the book, but now when I think about it more, I see more weak places.
Though I find it useful as you can review & compare your testing/managing process.
I think it's one of must-reads for QA engineers. The book gives a good overview of Google's testing techniques and tools. And it's quite entertaining as well.
Good book for a QA and teams who wish to improve quality.
Quit on pg 108...
7) testers -> productivity engineers
10) product team assignments
73) browser automation APIs
79) "coverage reports" collect data
7) testers -> productivity engineers
10) product team assignments
73) browser automation APIs
79) "coverage reports" collect data
I liked the real life examples of how the google engineers use their phones with the latest incremental release of android.
Very interesting and useful. maybe not written the best but I didn't find this information anywhere else.
Useful if you're interviewing for a software testing position and haven't had much experience with testing before.
This was a good read. The book explains very well how the testing is performed in google, the different tester's roles and the quality process followed. Since it explained things in a simple language I was able to think more about the subject to have my own opinion.
Google spent a lot of money in testing and came up with a new kind of tester that performs much more than what a normal tester does. To tell you the truth I feel that the proper term should not be "Software Engineer in Test". Rather ...more
Google spent a lot of money in testing and came up with a new kind of tester that performs much more than what a normal tester does. To tell you the truth I feel that the proper term should not be "Software Engineer in Test". Rather ...more
Nice overview of the state of testing at Google 2011-ish. It also motivates the choices clearly.
I would have liked to see some context as well - what is expected of a product owner? How do features get shape? Why did the test engineer need to create a functional overview (shouldn't that be available already)? Probably givens for Googlers, but not for me.
Even with that in mind it is a useful book. I particularly liked the interviews with the people that actually performed the roles. Easy to read ...more
I would have liked to see some context as well - what is expected of a product owner? How do features get shape? Why did the test engineer need to create a functional overview (shouldn't that be available already)? Probably givens for Googlers, but not for me.
Even with that in mind it is a useful book. I particularly liked the interviews with the people that actually performed the roles. Easy to read ...more
A great read if you want to know how Google handles the complex subject of testing software. This book covers what Google believes is the best approach to the problem, with the SWE, SET and TE roles explained, and reasons for requiring them, and how Google allocates time for innovation to develop new testing practices. "What would Google Do?" is a common question as they always seem to think ahead of others and this is another example whereby they want to continue to improve and find new
...more
Sep 02, 2014
Cyberamazing
added it
This book is more about people than technologies (although it contains description of some google instruments and tools for testing software ). I really like the idea of 20 percent time for yourself, and ability to change project every 18 month. Also I like approach for quality and testing. Let computer do all the routine thing and let engineer be engineer and focus on important!
If you wonder how development process organized in one of the most successful companies you should read this book. But ...more
If you wonder how development process organized in one of the most successful companies you should read this book. But ...more
As a high regarded book, my expectations were high. But in the end, I wasn't impressed as I should be. The focus is more on the organization rather than practices or even process. The structure of the book reflect the main roles of the test department. Also the author capture nicely the change of focus of his department, which is probably the most important lesson of the book.
ma note de lecture en français ici
ma note de lecture en français ici
One friend who works as SET (Software Engineer in Test) at Google recommended me this book. I'm quite interested in software testing and I enjoyed reading this book. It describes in good detail the different roles that take part in the testing process at Google, and it has a lot of interviews with Googlers that talk about their experience and work. This interview format makes the reading very agile and entertaining.
It's definitely a must read for anyone interested in testing.
It's definitely a must read for anyone interested in testing.
I find it interesting that ALL of their source code lives in one single source base so anyone can access the code for any product. They greatly value reuse of common libraries. And if you don 19t like the way it behaves, you can change it (since you have access to the code). I also found it interesting that they have a specific SET position whose sole purpose is to help engineers write tests. You typically don't see this in other organizations. Kudos to Google for leading the way in this
...more
Editors should be shot for allowing this out the door. There is no excuse for 100 pages in one chapter. A good editor would not let this out the door.
otherwise an interesting read. They have some good points, but they do not have the right answer: try using google docs (after using something else) as your only office suite and you will understand. I don't know what the right answer is for software testing, but this is only a part.
otherwise an interesting read. They have some good points, but they do not have the right answer: try using google docs (after using something else) as your only office suite and you will understand. I don't know what the right answer is for software testing, but this is only a part.
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“Scarcity brings clarity.”
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“As test documentation goes, test plans have the briefest actual lifespan of any test artifact. Early in a project, there is a push to write a test plan [...]. Indeed, there is often an insistence among project managers that a test plan must exist and that writing it is a milestone of some importance. But, once such a plan is written, it is often hard to get any of those same managers to take reviewing and updating it seriously. The test plan becomes a beloved stuffed animal in the hands of a distracted child. We want it to be there at all times. We drag it around from place to place without ever giving it any real attention. We only scream when it gets taken away.”
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