Book Review: Team Guide to Software Testability

Target Audience

I couldn’t find any information online regarding who the book is targeted towards, nor could I find any information on the back of the book itself.

So I’ll just share who I would recomend ths book to.

I would recommend this book to everyone who works with software development. Period.

What I Thought About the Book

I started reading the Team Guide to Software Testability by Ash Winter and Rob Meaney in April 2023 and only just finished reading it.

The funny thing is I recommended this book long before I actually finished it - I got to about halfway through the book when I decided to recommend it. At that point I had really enjoyed what I had read so far and then had glimpses of what was coming up and thought it was worthy of a recommendation. It just took me a very long time to finish reading it because I kept on getting sidetracked by starting other books as well.

I was also surprised (and flattered) to see my name listed in the acknowledgements alongside some superstars in the industry. Thank you! But let’s get back to the review.

Going in, I knew some of the basics of testability but felt I should be much better informed on this important topic that affects software testing. Up until I read this book, I felt like I had merely scratched the surface on this topic. I knew Winter and Meaney were experts in this field, and learning from them through this book was incredibly valuable.

Honestly, I don’t know how widespread the concept of testability is in the software testing community, but I would say this: Even if you don’t know what testability is, I guarantee you, you have felt the effects of good and bad testability. You just didn’t know how to put the words to it.

This book is full of activities and workshops with clear instructions on hold to hold these workshops along with FAQS on how to handle questions/issues that may arise. I also really appreciate the sample agendas - they help teams understand what to expect from workshops right from the calendar invite.

There were heaps of pearls of wisdom that Winter and Meaney shared throughout the book but my favourite is probably the following:

“We advocate looking for small improvements on a consistent basis to enhance testability, these build momentum for thr larger changes.”

Some of my other favourite sections of the book include:

• Recognise common challenges and their testability impact.
• The testability map exercise
• Adopt a whole-team approach to managing test debt
• Recognise needs and contributions from different roles to create an effective testability mindset.

These sections are just the beginning - there’s so much more valuable content that I can’t list it all here, but these highlights should give you a good sense of what to expect.

I’m now focussed on figuring out how to continue to raise awareness on testability at my company and this book has given me a few new ideas of things to try.

In conclusion, this is a fantastic book - I’m delighted to have it in my library, and I strongly recommend you get yourself a copy.