~70% of SDLC Effort is on Software Testing and Related Activities

Wise IT Executives or Software Engineers focus on improving the testing process first. Before 2007, I was just a senior contractor developer. After practising real E2E UI Test Automation, I have successfully developed and maintained several internationally acclaimed software and apps, primarily in my spare time, solo.

In 2013, one architect (of a government department) told me that 70% of the budget was spent on software testing for the aged mainframe system. I was surprised. Since then, I started observing the team’s activities on various projects, and my conclusion: ~70% of all software development effort is on software testing or related activities. A clarification on the meaning of ‘related’ here: this task can be significantly shortened (and made much easier) if E2E test automation is implemented well.

New readers might think, “Zhimin, you said so because you are a test automation coach”. I worked as a full-time programmer between 1997–2010, and since 2007 I have started coding my own apps (in my spare time). The fact is that I have always been actively involved in software development…