Page - vii - in The Future of Software Quality Assurance

Preface AQuestionof Quality Software testing is not a regulated profession. In principle, anybody can become a tester.Thiswasalways thecaseand remainsso today.However, thereare standards thatshouldapplytoall testingprofessionalsandwhichareaprerequisiteforanyone wishing tobe takenseriouslyasa software tester. Anearlyversionofastandardizedsyllabuswasdevelopedin1998knownas the “Certified Tester”. Four years later Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK established the International Software Qualification Board (ISTQB ® ) to define and promote a body of knowledge for the professionof software tester. It is one matter to create a set of regulations; it is quite another to ensure that the regulations are observed. This is where a certifying body has a crucial role to play, and hence the International Software Quality Institute (iSQI). Exactly 15yearsagoaworkinggroupknownasASQF(ArbeitskreisSoftware-Qualitätund -Fortbildunge.V.) established iSQI as an independentbody to serve as a safety net andguarantee foran uncompromisingandconsistent levelofquality in the training and certification of specialists throughout the world. In the following 15 years the quality of the profession of software tester has improved immensely. Today there arealmost650,000ISTQB ® -certifiedsoftware testersworldwide. QualityStandardsAre an Imperative It is thestandardsmaintainedbyspecialistsateverylevelofsoftwareproductionthat accelerate improvements in quality. Both functional and non-functional ‘quality’ can only be achieved when people have a sense of what the term ‘quality’ really means and they know what they have to do to achieve this. Yet how can they do this when they have to deal with complicated testing in a limited time? And how vii