1.1 Is this book useful?

Having worked for both excellent companies and poorly run organizations, I have experienced, first hand, the effects that a well-run test group can have on business success. Well-run companies tend to follow a development process as if they have found a recipe from which they should never deviate. If you are fortunate enough to work for such a company, reasons for following the process are seldom given you just do what the process dictates.

Startups, on the other hand, typically do not consider process as important as product development, and as such they tend to neglect the process. Product integration is often disastrous, test activity ad hoc and driven by crisis, and product deployment inadequate, all of which leaves a poor taste in the mouths of potential customers. In many instances, customers are left with a choice of which product is the less onerous one to use.

This book is based upon techniques used by some of the best managed technology companies today, yet it offers a modified approach that is best suited to smaller ventures that reject the bureaucracy associated with process.

1.2 Why write this book?

This book was written as a direct result of the tremendous frustration experienced during many projects that were undertaken by startup companies; many of these companies are no longer in business. After wasting tens of millions of dollars on development, there is nothing to show for their efforts. As a matter of fact, there were many instances when,...