Tester to Developer Ratios
Pieper
What ratios are typical in a maintenance environment for software
testers to software programmers for a very large mainframe financial
application.
Stephan Meyn
anyting from 1:2 to 1:1. It depends what scope the term tester
implies.
I have a team of 20 developers and a total of 14 testers. However half
that includes 6 users (who know how to test it best) and 2
requirements modellers.
Stephan
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Mark Wiley
In article <35201325.738433@news-server> sm...@no-spam.nsw.bigpond.net.au (Stephan Meyn) writes:
>On Mon, 30 Mar 1998 12:31:42 -0500, Pieper <e...@mediaone.net> wrote:
>
>>What ratios are typical in a maintenance environment for software
>>testers to software programmers for a very large mainframe financial
>>application.
>>
>anyting from 1:2 to 1:1. It depends what scope the term tester
>implies.
>I have a team of 20 developers and a total of 14 testers. However half
>that includes 6 users (who know how to test it best) and 2
>requirements modellers.
>
>Stephan
I have usually been in situations where the ratio was 1:5 or worse. Never
worked in a place where it was 1:2, let alone 1:1. Must be nice :-).
Markw
===============================================================================
Mark S. Wiley Email: ma...@ncube.com
*** Software Testing, Death From Above ***
Manager of Quality Assistance nCUBE
===============================================================================
Steve Watson
Same here. Usually 1:5 or greater. I have never been with a company
that has a ratio better than 1:5. I can say that even in the QA
critical medical device industry you'd never see a ratio close better
than 1:3. Microsoft, I've heard, is one of the companies that has a 1:2
ratio or better.
Steve Watson
QA Manager, Preview Travel
Gwen Garrison
Steve Watson (swa...@previewtravel.com) wrote:
: Same here. Usually 1:5 or greater. I have never been with a company
: that has a ratio better than 1:5. I can say that even in the QA
: critical medical device industry you'd never see a ratio close better
: than 1:3. Microsoft, I've heard, is one of the companies that has a 1:2
: ratio or better.
Wow. I'm at my 4th company in the Seattle area, and I've always been in
in a 1:1 - 1:2 ratio. At my first contract, I think we actually
outnumbered the developers - by a lot.
Just lucky, I guess, to have hardball QA managers and a pretty respectful
environment.
--Gwen
--
Gwen Garrison
gw...@blarg.com
"No, then we ship."
Stephan Meyn
As I said it is a matter of how you count the testers. When I started
working with the test group, there were just 4 testers. So you start
negotiating for resources. Identify those groups that have a stake in the
outcome of the product. Often that is the users. Then you go looking for
requirement modellers/BAs that have created the requirements. They will help
you with reviewing the requirements for testing.
Stephan
Gwen Garrison wrote in message <6frdfc$548$1...@animal.blarg.net>...
Danny R. Faught
[posted and mailed]
I just added this new entry to the FAQ, with edited versions of previous
answers to this question.
------------------------------
Subject: 16. What is the best tester to developer ratio?
Reported tester:developer ratios range from 10:1 to 1:10.
Jeremy L. Mordkoff writes:
> There's no simple answer. It depends on so many things, I can't even
> list them all. Amount of reused code, number and type of interfaces,
> platform, quality goals, etc.
>
> It also can depend on the development model. The more specs, the less
> testers. The roles can play a big part also. Does QA own beta?
> Do you include process auditors or planning activities?
Boris Beizer adds:
> These figures can all vary very widely depending on how you define
> "tester" and "developer". In some organizations, a "tester" is anyone
> who happens to be testing software at the time -- such as their own. In
> other organizations, a "tester" is only a member of an independent test
> group.
>
> It is far, far, better to ask about the test labor content than it is
> to ask about the tester/developer ratio. The test labor content, across
> most applications is generally accepted as 50%, when people do honest
> accounting. For life-critical software, this can go up to 80%.
--
Danny Faught -- HP Enterprise Systems Group -- Software Test Alchemist
"Everything is deeply intertwingled." (Ted Nelson, _Computer Lib_)