Foreword by Tim Koomen

Certification is big. For some years, the number of certified testers has been rising rapidly. And this is great! To make testing into a truly accepted profession, certification is an essential instrument. Although other test certification programs exist, the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) has, without a doubt, the most important and popular program. Supported widely in many countries by many organizations, its success contributes considerably to the worldwide, and still badly needed professionalization of testing.

The thing I like very much about the ISTQB certification is its independence of particular test methods (and yes, I say this even though I’m closely associated to a particular test method) and suppliers; it’s a source of knowledge that is commonly agreed on, but detailed enough to satisfy the often demanding and critical testers of this world.

To certify yourself for the ISTQB Advanced Level, you have to pass a nontrivial exam. How can you increase your chances of passing this ultimate “test of the tester”? Combining your practical experience with detailed knowledge of the ISTQB syllabus is easier said than done. Training is an important method to gain the required knowledge, but in my opinion, which is shared by the authors of this book, at least as important is the ability to read, learn, and understand the subject matter in your own time, at your own pace, as preparation for the exam. The syllabus itself is too concise for this purpose, which is the very reason for this book.

However, to call this book only a good preparation for the ISTQB Advanced exam wouldn’t do justice to the completeness of this work. I’m very glad, therefore, that the authors have decided to publish their book in English and not restrict their work for the German reading audience alone.

I found it easy to summarize what I like about this book:

Easy to learn

Its alignment to the test management topics of the Advanced Level, plus the side column with key points and the summaries at the end of each chapter, greatly facilitate learning. My expectation is that this book will also be popular at universities and colleges. This book would be a very good development tool, as we testers definitely need to raise the far-too-low awareness of testing in most educational organizations where IT is taught.

Complete and thorough in its scope of test management

Virtually every important aspect of test management is dealt with, including test process improvement practices (which has my particular interest) and (many) available standards. This book clearly demonstrates how extensive the test management profession has become. “Another book” is, therefore, not a problem; the profession evolves, and in order to keep up, a test manager must continually extend his or her knowledge and skills. This book supports that further education.

Good combination of practice and theory

Just looking at the background of the four authors will convince you that this book is really a result of “theory meets practice”. From my own experience in writing, I know how hard it is to find the right balance between these two, but the authors have, without a doubt, succeeded in finding this right balance.

All in all, I congratulate the authors on writing this highly inspiring book that you will find very useful, not only for preparing for your ISTQB exam, but also for grasping what modern test management is about and for finding (new or alternative) ideas and solutions for managing your tests.

Tim Koomen
Independent consultant, coauthor of the books
TMap Next and Test Process Improvement (TPI^®),
and co-editor of TMap Test Topics.