Laws of Software Development: Sturgeon’s Law in E2E Test Automation and Continuous Testing

“ninety percent of everything is crap”

This article is one of the “Laws in Software Development” series:

• 80/20 Rule
• Broken Window Theory
• Parkinson’s Law: “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”
• Sturgeon’s law: “ninety percent of everything is crap”
• Murphy’s law: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”
• The 10,000-Hour Rule: “The key to achieving true expertise is simply a matter of practicing”
• Brooks’ Law: “Adding manpower to a late project makes it later.”
• Hosftadter’s Law: “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.”
• Conway’s Law: “Any piece of software reflects the organizational structure that produced it.”
• …

Update (2024–10–10): Part 2: How to Beat it?

Sturgeon’s Law

Sturgeon’s law (or Sturgeon’s revelation) is an adage stating “ninety percent of everything is crap”. It was coined by Theodore Sturgeon, an American science fiction author and critic…