When you are a seasoned software tester who wants to review a book on new-age software Quality, you will feel exactly like me – curious, delighted, and excited! Rich Roger’s Changing Times introduces Quality for the new-age general public audience.
These days, software and technology touch pretty much everyone’s life in many ways, and one would always look for that awesome experience in the products as well as the people they interact with! Changing Times identifies the dimensions of quality in simple terms that’s educating and enjoyable for anyone, irrespective of whether they understand technology or not. People who are in Software development, Testing, Quality Control, User Interface Design, User Experience (UI/UX), DevOps, Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD), etc., would enjoy this book as well, as the book touches upon the stuff that they work on a day-to-day basis.
The book starts with defining Quality as given by Michael Bolton. It then moves into fiction mode, introducing Kim, who works as an editor in a printed paper news agency which is on the verge to go digital, and narrates how her life is touched by the software products and the technology that she uses. I found it very tasteful to introduce Quality concepts through a character, which makes the reading pretty interesting.
The dimensions of Quality are explained well, with nice examples and illustrations. It will be very helpful for anyone who is wondering about the topic of Quality and wants to understand the concept through specific terms, although the author has stated that his model is not in any way the absolute, but is a guide to explore further.
The foreword for this book has been written by Tony Bailey, CEO of AccessHQ, Sydney. The Words and Terms section provides an useful
summary of the terms used in the software and the technology industry. The formatting of the book is pretty neat, with proofreading done really well.
The book does not provide technical expertise guidance in any of the software or technology areas. If you are looking for it, this book is not for you. The book feels a bit shallow because it does not deal in depth on any technical topic, but that may be because I am a very technical person and look for that technical ‘juice’ in everything I read. Clearly that’s not the objective of the book, but that feeling was very much there with me and many techies would also feel it while reading the book.
Overall, I found this book to be a very useful guide for general public to understand Quality in software and technology areas that impact their day-to-day life in current times. Quality is clearly defined, and the attributes of Quality are clearly explained through the story of a character. I personally feel that every one of us should have a copy of this book in their hands – to understand, appreciate, and contribute to Quality in their day-to-day life in whatever ways possible.
If you would like to buy a copy of this book, you can find it here:
(USA & elsewhere)
(India)
Standard Disclaimer: The author has provided this book to me as a free copy for me to review it. This is an unpaid review.
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