| Preface. |
| Acknowledgments. |
| I. REQUIREMENTS PHASE. |
| 1. Involve Testers from the Beginning. |
| 2. Verify the Requirements. |
| 3. Design Test Procedures as Soon as Requirements Are Available. |
| 4. Ensure That Requirement Changes Are Communicated. |
| 5. Beware of Developing and Testing Based on an Existing System. |
| II. TEST PLANNING. |
| 6. Understand the Task at Hand and the Related Testing Goal. |
| 7. Consider the Risks. |
| 8. Base Testing Efforts on a Prioritized Feature Schedule. |
| 9. Keep Software Issues in Mind. |
| 10. Acquire Effective Test Data. |
| 11. Plan for the Test Environment. |
| 12. Estimate Test Preparation and Execution. |
| III. THE TESTING TEAM. |
| 13. Define the Roles and Responsibilities. |
| 14. Require a Mixture of Testing Skills, Subject Matter Expertise, and Experience. |
| 15. Evaluate the Testers' Effectiveness. |
| IV. THE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE. |
| 16. Understand the Architecture and Underlying Components. |
| 17. Verify That the System Supports Testability. |
| 18. Use Logging to Increase System Testability. |
| 19. Verify That the System Supports Debug vs. Release Execution Modes. |
| V. TEST DESIGN AND DOCUMENTATION. |
| 20. Divide and Conquer. |
| 21. Mandate the Use of a Test Procedure Template, and Other Test Design Standards. |
| 22. Derive Effective Test Cases from Requirements. |
| 23. Treat Test Procedures as "Living" Documents. |
| 24. Use System Design and Prototypes. |
| 25. Use Proven Testing Techniques When Designing Test Case Scenarios. |
| 26. Avoid Constraints and Detailed Data Elements in Test Procedures. |
| 27. Apply Exploratory Testing. |
| VI. UNIT TESTING. |
| 29. Develop Unit Tests in Parallel or before the Implementation. |
| 30. Make Unit Test Execution Part of the Build Process. |
| VII. AUTOMATED TESTING TOOLS. |
| 31. Be Aware of the Different Types of Testing Support Tools. |
| 32. Consider Building a Tool Instead of Buying One. |
| 33. Be Aware of the Impact of Automated Tools on the Testing Effort. |
| 34. Focus on the Needs of Your Organization. |
| 35. Test the Tools on an Application Prototype. |
| VIII. AUTOMATED TESTING—SELECTED BEST PRACTICES. |
| 36. Do Not Rely Solely on Capture/Playback. |
| 37. Develop a Test Harness When Necessary. |
| 38. Use Proven Test Script Development Techniques. |
| 39. Automate Regression Tests Whenever Possible. |
| 40. Implement Automated Builds and Smoke-Tests. |
| IX. NONFUNCTIONAL TESTING. |
| 41. Do Not Make Nonfunctional Testing an Afterthought. |
| 42. Conduct Performance Testing with Production Sized Databases. |
| 43. Tailor Usability Tests to the Intended Audience. |
| 44. Consider All Aspects of Security, for Specific Requirements and System-Wide. |
| 45. Investigate the System's Implementation to Plan for Concurrency Tests. |
| 46. Setup an Efficient Environment for Compatibility Testing. |
| X. MANAGING THE TEST EXECUTION. |
| 47. Clearly Define the Beginning and the End of the Test Execution Cycle. |
| 48. Isolate the Test Environment from the Development Environment. |
| 49. Implement a Defect Tracking Life-Cycle. |
| 50. Track the Execution of the Test Program. |
