Reviews

Testing Techniques
• Static
– Static testing checks work without running the code, Review's,
Inspection's and Walkthrough's are static testing methodologies.
– Dynamic
– Dynamic testing checks software by running it, providing inputs,
and verifying expected outputs. Unit Tests, Integration Tests,
System Tests and Acceptance Tests are are Dynamic testing
methodologies.
 Static Testing Techniques
• Reviews
– Walkthroughs
– Inspections
 Why Review?
• Errors are common; everyone makes
them.
• Others catch errors the originator misses.
• Use group feedback to improve a product.
• Ensure consistent quality in technical
work.
• Ensure work quality to avoid mistakes.
 Formal technical Review
• A verification activity that is performed by
software engineers
• Performed on any “work product”
• Actually a class of reviews that include:-
– Walkthroughs
– Inspections
– Round-robin reviews
 Categories of Reviews

• Informal Review
– Walkthrough
– May or may not be planned at the start of the project
– Can be conducted when concerned role/person feels
the requirement of walkthroughs
• Formal Review
– Inspections
– must be planned at the start of the project
• A verification activity that is performed by software
engineers
• Performed on any “work product”
 Walkthroughs
• Objectives
– Finding problems
– Discussing alternative solutions
– Focusing on demonstrating how work product
meets all requirements
 Tasks

•Assign reviewers and schedule the walkthrough

•Plan walkthrough in QA or as needed.

•Share work product with reviewers beforehand.

 Tasks (contd.)
•Author explains the work product to reviewers.

•Reviewers suggest fixes, and the author makes changes if possible.

•Meeting notes are shared with stakeholders, including follow-up details.

 Tasks (contd.)

•Author makes the needed changes in the work

.Reviewers check changes on the set date.

 Inspections

•Inspection is a careful and detailed review

done by a group to find and fix problems
early.

•It helps improve product quality and work

efficiency.
 Objectives

•Find problems early in development.

•Check if the product meets requirements.

•Ensure it follows set standards.

•Share data on quality and process.

 Advantages
•Help team learn by checking others' work.

•Make software testing more effective.

 Inspection Phases
• Planning
• Overview meeting (optional)
• Preparation
• Inspection meeting
• Rework and Follow-up
 Definitions and Abbreviations
Moderator Person responsible for moderating the inspection meeting.

Producer Author of work product.

Person responsible for presenting work product during the inspection

Reader
meeting.

Person responsible for reviewing work product during the inspection

Inspector
meeting.

Person responsible for recording defects in work product during the

Recorder
inspection meeting.

Person observing the inspection meeting, no specific responsibilities for

Observer
that person.

Inspection Formal group review of work product.

Walkthrough Informal review of work product.

 Objectives of planning
• Decide which work needs inspection.

• Check if the work is ready.

• Choose the inspection team members.

• Decide if an overview meeting is needed.

• Plan the overview and inspection meetings.

 Tasks
• Concerned role/person identifies the work
product to be inspected and determines if the
work product is ready to be inspected.
• Concerned role/person selects the moderator.
• Once the moderator has been selected and has
accepted the assignment, project manager and
moderator select inspection team.
• Moderator assigns the roles of Inspector,
Producer, Reader, Recorder and Observer to
selected inspection team members in
coordination with PM.
• The moderator obtains commitment from each team
member to participate. This commitment means the
person agrees to spend the time required to perform his
or her assigned role on the team. In some cases,
approval from the team member’s supervisor or manager
may be required.
• Moderator ensures the availability of required
facilities and makes necessary reservations.
• The moderator and the producer decide if an overview
meeting is required based on the inspection team’s
familiarity with the work product and the complexity of
the work product being inspected.
• The moderator and the producer identify the review
materials required for the inspection. The moderator
ensures that the review materials are distributed. The
review material includes the specification of the work
product and relevant checklists and standards. The
specifications of the work product are generally the
outputs of the previous phases and are needed to verify
the work product to be inspected.
• The moderator schedules meetings and distributes
review materials. The moderator communicates the date,
time, and location of the meetings to the inspection team
and gets their commitment. If an overview meeting is
held, the moderator can distribute the review materials
during that meeting.
 Guidelines for Selecting Work
Products:
• Deciding what to inspect is not easy. Inspections require a
considerable time commitment; therefore, selecting what to inspect
needs to be done judiciously. Also all work products may not
undergo inspection as this approach is expensive and may not
return desire results.
• As work products of the early life cycle of the project are very critical
and defects in these work products have a multiplier effect in the
work products produced in the later stage of the project, therefore,
artifacts produced in analysis and design phases are strong
candidates for inspection.
• The decision regarding other work products to be inspected shall be
left to the QA Lead and PM.
• Inspections as well as walkthroughs shall be documented in the QA
Plan.
 Guidelines for Inspection
Planning
• Normally a quality assurance team member is assigned
as Moderator.
• All inspection team members should be trained on
Inspection Process.
• In case the moderator is not selected from quality
assurance team, a quality assurance team member is
invited to the all inspection meetings.
• The minimum number of roles required for an inspection
is three (moderator, producer, and inspector).
• Any Inspection team member can be assigned several
roles. Generally producer is one of the inspectors and
moderator may be an inspector also.
 Overview Meeting
• Overview meeting is optional as moderator and
the producer decide if an overview meeting is
required based on the inspection team’s
familiarity with the work product being inspected,
and the complexity of the work product being
inspected.
• Objective of the overview meeting is to explain
the work product to the inspection team and to
discuss the review materials so that inspectors
can prepare for the inspection meeting by
reviewing the material individually and find
defects
 Preparation
• Objective
• Objective of the preparation phase is to prepare for the inspection
meeting by critically reviewing the review materials and the
work product.
• Tasks
• Inspectors review checklists and internal standards and conventions
before reviewing work product to create review material list of
things to become more familiar with review materials and work
product. While preparation, record any obvious defects.
• Ideally the preparation for review shall be done in one continuous
time span. The producer may be informed about the logged defects
in defect tracking tool against the artifact or product being inspected,
so that he can become familiar with outputs of each reviewer and
prepare for the final meeting.
 Inspection Meeting
• Objective
• The objective of the inspection meeting is
to identify final defect list in the work
product being inspected, based on the
initial list of defects prepared by the
inspectors and the new one found during
the inspection meeting.
 Tasks
• The moderator opens the meeting.
• The moderator determines if the inspectors are prepared. If
moderator identifies that the team is not adequately prepared, the
moderator postpones the meeting.
• If the moderator is satisfied that the team is adequately prepared,
the inspection begins. Reader starts by paraphrasing the first
chunk of information from the work product (or present the
material by any other convenient method).
• During the meeting, if an inspector has previously identified any
defect or finds a new defect, he or she raises the point. The defect
is discussed among the team. The producer reviews the defect
under discussion and either clarifies why it is not a defect or accepts
it as a defect.
• Sources of defects are also identified.
• Recorder notes down all the defects and their sources.
• After the reader has completed the entire work product, the
moderator asks the recorder to read back all the noted defects to
ensure that they were recorded correctly.
• On the basis of defects’ severity, the team decides about re-
inspection.
• If another meeting or re-inspection is required, the moderator
schedules it.
• Recommendation regarding reviews in the next stage can be
made.
• The moderator adjourns the meeting.
• Recorder logs all the defects and their sources in defect tracking
tool and assigns them to producer.
• Minutes of meeting are prepared and sent by the recorder to the
relevant roles/persons as required.
 Guidelines for Inspection
Meeting
• If few modifications are required for fixing the defects
then follow up may not be required. If many
modifications are required then a follow-up meeting
by the moderator is required or re-inspection is
necessary to verify the defect fixing. Moderator
recommends what to be done.
• The moderator reiterates the rules for the meeting that
are:
– Criticism is to be focused on the work product, not on the
producer.
– The producer is present to clarify, not to justify
– The meeting duration is set at not more than two hours
continuously.
– Breaks are granted where required.
 Rework and Follow-up
• Objective
• To ensure that corrective action has been taken to
resolve the defects found during an inspection.
• Tasks
• The producer and the moderator agree on the schedule
for completing corrective action.
• The producer fixes the defects identified by the
inspection team.
• When all rework has been completed, the moderator
verifies the rework and updates the defects status in
defect tracking tool or reschedules a follow-up inspection
meeting (if defects not fixed), as determined by the team.
 Summary
Walkthroughs Inspections

Group involves multiple participants of varying

roles and responsibilities: reviewers trained in
inspection, moderator (or inspection leader),
Involves two or more peer developers.
reviewers (trained inspectors), developers
(authors, producers), recorder (or scribe), and
possibly a separate reader.

Can be used to detect errors in requirements,

Possible errors identified, typically in code. design, code, test cases, and/or other project
artifacts.

Changes are only suggested. Further investigation

Inspections specify action items, e.g., for rework
and correction are outside the scope of this
and re-inspection.
review.

Group involves multiple participants of varying

roles and responsibilities: reviewers trained in
inspection, moderator (or inspection leader),
Involves two or more peer developers.
reviewers (trained inspectors), developers
(authors, producers), recorder (or scribe), and
possibly a separate reader.