I very much appreciate this seminal work on the subject of test automation. As I started getting into test automation and saw tremendous benefit, as well as potential problems, I kept wondering "How is this being done in industry?" Some searching around landed me on this book.

I was very much impressed with the amount of research that went into this book.

Here's an important quote from page 1:

We believe that two of the most important elements are management issues and the testware architecture:

• Management support for automation, such as setting realistic objectives and providing sufficient and appropriate resources to achieve a planned return on investment (ROI).
• A good technical architecture for the automated testware, having the right levels of abstraction to give flexibility and adaptability while minimizing costs not just of testware maintenance but of all aspects of automation.

Chapter 29: "Test Automation Anecdotes" is worth the read. It's a collection of short stories and comments they've collected that merit retelling, but don't constitute enough for an entire chapter. There were several good comments. Here's one for example:

Keep good records of the costs and benefits of automation (and testing) to make sure the highest levels in the organization realize what a good investment they have made in automating testing.

Amen to that! One of the biggest challenges to test automation is upper management buy-in. You may see the benefit of it, but you MUST be communicating that benefit to others!