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.