Since testing is viewed as a process, it must have an organization such that a testing group works for
better testing and high-quality software. The testing group is responsible for the following activities:
- Maintenance and application of test policies
- Development and application of testing standards
- Participation in requirement, design, and code reviews
- Test planning
- Test execution
- Test measurement
- Test monitoring
- Defect tracking
- Acquisition of testing tools
- Test reporting
The staff members of such a testing group are called test specialists or test engineers or simply testers, A
tester is not a developer or an analyst. He/She does not debug the code or repair it. He/She is responsible for ensuring that the testing is effective and quality issues are being addressed. The skills a tester
should possess are discussed below.
Personal and Managerial Skills
- Testers must be able to contribute in policy-making and planning the testing activities.
- Testers must be able to work in a team.
- Testers must be able to organize and monitor information, tasks, and people.
- Testers must be able to interact with other engineering professionals, software quality assurances
staff, and clients.
- Testers should be capable of training and mentoring new testers.
- Testers should be creative, imaginative, and experiment oriented.
- Testers must have written and oral communication skills.
Technical Skills
- Testers must be technically sound and capable of understanding software engineering principles
and practices.
- Testers must be good in programming skills.
- Testers must have an understanding of testing basics, principles, and practices.
- Testers must have a good understanding and practice of testing strategies and methods to develop test cases.
- Testers must have the ability to plan, design, and execute test cases with the goal of logic coverage.
- Testers must have technical knowledge of networks, databases, operating systems, etc., needed
to work in a the project environment.,
- Testers must have the knowledge of configuration management.
- Testers must have the knowledge of testware and the role of each document in the testing process.
- Testers must have know-how about quality issues and standards.