Free E-Book
7 Success Factors of Software Testing
25 years of project experience, distilled into the seven factors that separate successful testing teams from average ones. Compact, practical and immediately actionable.
What's inside the e-book?
Seven factors from 25 years of project work. Each one ready to use right away.
1. Test strategy
Defines why, what and how you test. The frame of reference for every other factor.
2. Test design techniques
Systematic methods instead of gut feeling. Equivalence classes, boundary values, decision tables.
3. Test automation
Used well, it's a booster. Used badly, it just makes you bad faster.
4. Static analysis
The most underrated factor. Find defects before the software even runs.
5. Team communication
Quality is a team responsibility. Out of the silos, into shared ownership.
6. Whole-system view
Software is a system. Tighten one screw and you open gaps somewhere else.
7. Mindset
Quality as an attitude. It grows almost on its own from the other six.
More than theory
Every chapter brings frameworks, hands-on exercises and reflection questions for your team.
- Practical frameworks with examples: the test pyramid, the quality compass, the Rule of 10
- Implementation nuggets: concrete exercises for solo and team use
- Reflection questions you can take straight into your next retro
- Further podcast episodes and blog posts for each topic
- Space for your own insights (a fill-in workbook format)
What you get out of it
What you take away once you've read it.
Ready to use
No academic knowledge for the drawer. Every factor comes with concrete exercises and tips you can put to work in your very next project.
Agile and classic
The seven factors work no matter your project model. Scrum, Kanban or a classic V-model: the fundamentals stay the same.
Built for teams
The exercises in the book are made for teams. Test-case circle, Three Amigos, bug-report bingo: all of them designed for groups.
33 pages. Hands-on. With a workbook feel.
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About the author
Richard Seidl
Software quality coach, consultant, keynote speaker and author. More than 25 years of project experience in software testing, eight books on software quality and testing, and a podcast with a wide international following.
Winner of the German Award for Software Quality 2025. An anti-dogmatic pragmatist: tip 2 in the e-book literally reads "Don't take my word for it." Because good practice grows from trying things out, not from following orders.
Want to go deeper? The podcast.
On Software Testing Unleashed, Richard Seidl and his guests talk about testing excellence, AI in testing and the questions that actually matter in real projects.