The testing that is clearly theater and a waste of money for all involved?

It looks like theater when everything goes right.

But when it catches a problem suddenly it’s not theater.

I don't know enough about it to know whether it's a waste or not. It's certainly not surprising that the company that has to pay for it thinks it's a waste.

It's not wasting the money of the testing people who's job it is to get paid to do work.

Like a civil engineer preparing an existing conditions plan of a flat field...