When one studies software engineering, the importance of review like activities are actively mentioned. However, during the pressure of actual project work, there is always pressure to reduce the amount of time spent on these activities; in many cases, this is something that the project manager might push. And there are a number of such review activities that happen during the course of the project. Here are some example:
- Requirements / Design review: During the process of detailing the requirements, there is a need to do a review of the requirements to ensure that the requirements cover the entire feature needs and is comprehensive. When the design process is done, there is a need for experienced design folks to review the design documents / architectural documents and related documents to ensure that the best possible solution is designed. In a number of projects that I have seen, such reviews typically are very value enhancing and can add a lot of improvements to the design documents.
- Test plans / test cases review: Once the design documents have been prepared, the testing documents get into high gear (in many cases, the test plan document would be started before the design documents have been completed). The testing process is critical to weed out all the defects / improper features in the software; if the test plans and cases are not comprehensive, then there would be problems with the software. Hence, a comprehensive review would be necessary, in many cases with the developer also participating.
- Code walkthrough: Code walkthrough is not done for all the code, typically done for the more critical sections of the code. In addition, as the software development process nears the end, this process gets more critical. There have been cases where a defect fix has failed, and caused more problems for the team in trying to figure out what went wrong. The advantages for a code walkthrough are very high.
- Defect review: This is not something that happens in all cases. What happens in many projects is that when a defect is written, it goes to a defect review committee that reviews whether the defect is valid, whether it has the proper severity and priority, and also whether it needs to be fixed. The committee can then decide whether to actually allocate the defect for fixing. This kind of process does add some overhead to the defect process, but can help prevent some defects from getting fixed which are not needed, and also whether the proper allocation of defects to people.
- Defect fix review: This can be critical, especially with defect fixes that touch core areas of the design or the architecture and need a proper review. This overlaps with the code walkthrough as well, but to ensure that the defects are properly fixed, this part of the process is critical.
One can quibble about the amount of time needed for such process work, but the need for reviews at different stages is critical and needs to be done.
- Requirements / Design review: During the process of detailing the requirements, there is a need to do a review of the requirements to ensure that the requirements cover the entire feature needs and is comprehensive. When the design process is done, there is a need for experienced design folks to review the design documents / architectural documents and related documents to ensure that the best possible solution is designed. In a number of projects that I have seen, such reviews typically are very value enhancing and can add a lot of improvements to the design documents.
- Test plans / test cases review: Once the design documents have been prepared, the testing documents get into high gear (in many cases, the test plan document would be started before the design documents have been completed). The testing process is critical to weed out all the defects / improper features in the software; if the test plans and cases are not comprehensive, then there would be problems with the software. Hence, a comprehensive review would be necessary, in many cases with the developer also participating.
- Code walkthrough: Code walkthrough is not done for all the code, typically done for the more critical sections of the code. In addition, as the software development process nears the end, this process gets more critical. There have been cases where a defect fix has failed, and caused more problems for the team in trying to figure out what went wrong. The advantages for a code walkthrough are very high.
- Defect review: This is not something that happens in all cases. What happens in many projects is that when a defect is written, it goes to a defect review committee that reviews whether the defect is valid, whether it has the proper severity and priority, and also whether it needs to be fixed. The committee can then decide whether to actually allocate the defect for fixing. This kind of process does add some overhead to the defect process, but can help prevent some defects from getting fixed which are not needed, and also whether the proper allocation of defects to people.
- Defect fix review: This can be critical, especially with defect fixes that touch core areas of the design or the architecture and need a proper review. This overlaps with the code walkthrough as well, but to ensure that the defects are properly fixed, this part of the process is critical.
One can quibble about the amount of time needed for such process work, but the need for reviews at different stages is critical and needs to be done.
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