Software Quality

Chapter 13Reviews

13.1 Introduction

A common product of the software development process, especially in its analysis and design phases, is a document, in which progress of development work performed is recorded. The system analyst or designer who prepares the document reviews it repeatedly in order to detect any possible errors that might have been introduced. In addition, development team leaders are also expected to examine this document and its details to reveal any remaining errors before granting their approval. However, it is clear that as these professionals were involved in actually producing the document, they are unlikely to detect some of their own errors, irrespective of the extent and number of reviews they conduct. Therefore, only others – such as peers, superiors, experts, and customer representatives – who have different experience and points of view and are not directly involved in creating the document, are capable of detecting errors unnoticed by the development team. A review is probably the best method to detect existing errors that remained undetected in a software project document.

As defined by Frame 13.1, a review process is:

Frame 13.1: Review – a Definition

Review – a definition

A process for evaluating a documented software project product in which a group of professionals and stakeholders raise comments regarding the contents of a document presented to them beforehand. The reviewers may have the authority to approve the contents of the document, ...