Project Management: What is the right ratio of testers to developers?

Managing the Proportion of Testers to (Other) Developers
By Cem Kaner/Elisabeth Hendrickson/Jennifer Smith-Brock

Summary: One of the common test management questions is what is the right ratio of testers to other developers. Perhaps a credible benchmark number can provide convenience and bargaining power to the test manager working with an executive who has uninformed ideas about testing or whose objective is to spend the minimum necessary to conform to an industry standard. The authors focused on staffing ratios and related issues for two days at the Fall 2000 meeting of the Software Test Managers Roundtable. This paper is a report of their thinking. (Editors note: Click here to read another paper on this topic, by Kathy Iberle and Sue Bartlett.)