Rating: 
Summary: Promises Much, Delivers [little]
Review: This book was praised by several colleagues as THE way to work on testing methods and thinking. After reading it and talking with each of them, it was apparent they were excited based on false credentials about ideas that were easy and comfortable but ineffective long term. This book is VERY dangerous to a serious testing organization because it focuses on minimal documentation (which means in 6 months when you're asked if you tested X and you can't remember, you'll get 5mins to get out of the building), downplays automation in regression testing (what!!?), and admits openly that it is proposing ideas that are NOT proven (contrary to what the title states) but rather are ideas that "seem to be working" (see pg 176) but no formal nor long term studies support their claims. Well, long term studies that have already been done directly contradict their findings: process is driven by a need to be effective and if you don't know what you're doing before you do it, then you don't know what you did when you're done. ... This is a book for those who advocate ad hoc testing to their own discredit and need a means of justificating their apathy and laziness to those who actually know effective testing techniques.
Rating: 
Summary: Effective as individual resource or training tool
Review: This is a book of combined wisdom and advice ranging from automated testing to how to think like a tester. What makes it unique is the way the wisdom is imparted and advice given by exhaustively dissecting key pitfalls in all of the key areas of testing, then reinforcing them with lessons and examples. As an individual tester seeking to improve professional knowledge you'll benefit from the combined wisdom, as well as the scope of the book's areas. The three authors have extensive experience in the profession - in fact, each is a leader in the profession - and each brings a different perspective to the practice of software testing. This guarantees that you will be exposed to a diverse set of challenges and ideas. If you teach testing, either in a class or set aside time for internal training within your testing group, this book is invaluable. In the classroom setting it will augment your primary text and material by providing discussion items and mini-cases with which to challenge your students. In the job setting it provides sufficient material from which to draw for conducting informal on-the-job training. More importantly, many of the lessons are bound to coincide with issues you and your group face in day-to-day work, which will allow you to reinforce lessons learned in your organization with the findings and advice contained within this book. Regardless of whether you are using this book to further your own professional knowledge or use as a training tool, it represents a valuable addition to the software testing body of knowledge and belongs on the bookshelf of everyone in he testing profession.
Rating:
Summary: Effective as individual resource or training tool
Review: This is a book of combined wisdom and advice ranging from automated testing to how to think like a tester. What makes it unique is the way the wisdom is imparted and advice given by exhaustively dissecting key pitfalls in all of the key areas of testing, then reinforcing them with lessons and examples. As an individual tester seeking to improve professional knowledge you'll benefit from the combined wisdom, as well as the scope of the book's areas. The three authors have extensive experience in the profession - in fact, each is a leader in the profession - and each brings a different perspective to the practice of software testing. This guarantees that you will be exposed to a diverse set of challenges and ideas. If you teach testing, either in a class or set aside time for internal training within your testing group, this book is invaluable. In the classroom setting it will augment your primary text and material by providing discussion items and mini-cases with which to challenge your students. In the job setting it provides sufficient material from which to draw for conducting informal on-the-job training. More importantly, many of the lessons are bound to coincide with issues you and your group face in day-to-day work, which will allow you to reinforce lessons learned in your organization with the findings and advice contained within this book. Regardless of whether you are using this book to further your own professional knowledge or use as a training tool, it represents a valuable addition to the software testing body of knowledge and belongs on the bookshelf of everyone in he testing profession.
Rating:
Summary: Agile advice for agile testing
Review: This is an excellent book for getting testers' heads straight about what software testing is and is not. The next time I head up a testing team, we'll grab copies of this book and work our way through it over lunch, a few sections each week. One of the strengths of "Lessons Learned" is that the authors know there is not just one answer. Wisdom is general, and then it has to be applied specifically to the specific situation. "Lessons Learned" helps testers get their passions up about the best, most efficient, most useful ways to understand and work with the project's code, and the clearest, must useful ways to transmit that information to programmers, management, and stakeholders. Oh, and it's humane and funny--a book you can read for fun, and get wise at the same time. A universe away from the understanding that thinks testing is just making lists and checking them off.
Rating:
Summary: Context is Everything when "It Depends" is the Answer
Review: Too often, testers ask questions such as "Should I use this test technique?" or "How should I plan my testing?", where the only real answer is "It depends". Successful testing and test planning depends on your context, and that's what Kaner, Bach, and Pettichord have described in this book. Each lesson briefly describes the context in which the lesson is useful. When conflicting practices are useful but in different contexts, such as whether to use IEEE Standard 829 to document testing, the lessons describe when you would want to use which practice and when you would not. If you're thinking about your testing, and you're not sure what applies to you, this book will help clarify your thinking. This is not a book about how to test per se, but a well-written and useful book about how to think about testing for your organization.
Rating:
Summary: This book is an amazing software testing knowledge resource
Review: We've used "Testing Computer Software" (Kaner/Falk/Nguyen) for years at Microsoft as a beginning tester training guide. "Lessons Learned in Software Testing" is a great additional reference book that will be useful for both beginners and our experienced testers. Every page has great advice from some of the best experts practicing the craft today. I intend to order a copy for everyone on my test teams, and I'll encourage other test groups at Microsoft (and you) to do the same.
Rating:
Summary: A useful resource. A good read.
Review: When I am asked for suggested solutions to software-testing problems, my standard answer has always been "The solutions depend on the context of the problems, external variables such as technology, process, people, and politics, and the specific objectives one hopes to achieve." I've also wished that there were a reliable, experience-based resource that I could refer my testing friends to that had answers to these commonly asked questions. Thankfully, Kaner, Bach and Pettichord have made my wish a reality. Packed with hundreds of lessons gleaned from numerous testing contexts, Lessons Learned in Software Testing offers sound advice from the three authors and many of their colleagues. Whether you're confronting test project management issues, looking for fresh testing techniques, or hoping to improve your effectiveness in working with developers, you will find valuable ideas here. I enjoyed reading these lessons and take pleasure in sharing them with my fellow testers. Today, I can confidently say to my colleagues that "Take a look in Lessons learned in Software Testing-You'll probably find your answers there."
Rating:
Summary: The Worst Book on Software Testing
Review: When I am asked for suggested solutions to software-testing problems, my standard answer has always been "The solutions depend on the context of the problems, external variables such as technology, process, people, and politics, and the specific objectives one hopes to achieve." I've also wished that there were a reliable, experience-based resource that I could refer my testing friends to that had answers to these commonly asked questions. Thankfully, Kaner, Bach and Pettichord have made my wish a reality. Packed with hundreds of lessons gleaned from numerous testing contexts, Lessons Learned in Software Testing offers sound advice from the three authors and many of their colleagues. Whether you're confronting test project management issues, looking for fresh testing techniques, or hoping to improve your effectiveness in working with developers, you will find valuable ideas here. I enjoyed reading these lessons and take pleasure in sharing them with my fellow testers. Today, I can confidently say to my colleagues that "Take a look in Lessons learned in Software Testing-You'll probably find your answers there."
Rating: 
Summary: Many helpful tips and ideas
Review: When I first looked at this book in the bookstore, I flipped through it and thought it was not worth buying. A few tips here and there but not worth the money. Except, I would occassionally pick it up again on subsequent visits and find a few more tips I hadn't seen the first time or been in the mood to appreciate. After a few rounds of this I bought it and was glad I did. There are a lot of books out there that talk endlessly about theory and generalities surrounding testing. If you are a tester you don't need these to get work done. You either need tried and true methods you can use today OR a resource to inform your thinking on how to approach tough testing problems specific to your situation that no book out there seems to cover. This book works very well for this purpose. No testing book is going to give you all you need straight out of the box to tackle your exact testing challenges. You are going to have to work out most of it yourself and this book will help.
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