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An inspection is one of the most common sorts of review found in
software projects. The goal of the inspection is for all of the
inspectors to reach consensus on a work product and approve it for use
in the project. Commonly inspected work products include software
requirements specifications (see Chapter 6) and test plans (see Chapter
8). In an inspection, a work product is selected for review and a team
is gathered for an inspection meeting to review the work product. A
moderator is chosen to moderate the meeting. Each inspector prepares
for the meeting by reading the work product and noting each defect. In
an inspection, a defect is any part of the work product that will keep
an inspector from approving it. For example, if the team is inspecting
a software requirements specification, each defect will be text in the
document which an inspector disagrees with.
During the inspection meeting, a moderator leads the team page by
page through a printed copy of the work product. The purpose of the
meeting is to identify and fix any defects. The moderator does not
actually read each page out loud or give the team time to read the
page. The team members read the document prior to the inspection,
during their preparation. When the moderator goes through the document
page by page, he simply asks the reviewers for their defects on page 1;
once those are done, he asks for the defects on page 2 and continues
through the rest of the document.
Prior to the inspection meeting, each team member should be given a
checklist to help them identify defects. Checklists will be different
for different kinds of work products. (In other chapters, checklists
will be included for each type of work product that should be
inspected.)
| Name |
Inspection Meeting script
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| Purpose |
To run a moderated inspection meeting.
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Summary
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In an inspection meeting, a moderator leads a team of
reviewers in reviewing a work product and fixing any defects that are
found. |
Work Products
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Input
Work product being inspected
Output
Inspection log
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Entry Criteria
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A moderator must be selected, as well as team of three to
ten people. A work product must be selected, and each team member has
read it individually and identified all wording which must be changed
or clarified before he or she will approve the work product. A unique
version number has been assigned to the work product.
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Basic Course of Events
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- Preparation. The moderator distributes printed version
of the work product (with line numbers) to each inspector, along with a
checklist to aid in the review. Each inspector reads the work product
and identifies any defects to be brought up at the meeting.
- Overview. The inspection meeting begins. The moderator verifies that each team member is prepared.
- Page-by-page review. The moderator runs
through the work product page by page. Inspectors indicate where there
are defects. Each defect is either resolved or left as an open issue.
The moderator adds each defect to the inspection log.
- Rework. The author repairs the defects identified in the inspection meeting.
- Follow-up. Inspection team members verify that the defects were repaired.
- Approval. The inspection team approves the work product.
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Alternative
Paths
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- During step 2, if any team member has not read the work product
then the inspection is halted. The meeting is rescheduled and the
script returns to step 1.
- During step 4, if an inspection team
member discovers additional defects in the work product then the
moderator calls another meeting and the process returns to step 1.
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Exit Criteria
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The work product has been approved.
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Preparation
Each inspector reviews the printed copy of the work product
individually prior to the inspection meeting. Any defects that are
found should be marked on the copy so that they can be brought up in
the meeting.
In many organizations, moderator requires that each inspector submit a
written list of defects that were found prior to the inspection
meeting, and all defects are compiled into a single inspection log and
distributed to the entire inspection team. This optional step can
reduce the time required for the meeting because instead of going
through the entire work product page by page, the moderator only goes
through the log, and the author and inspectors have time to prepare in
advance to respond to the defects.
Overview
The moderator verifies that each inspection team member has read the
printed copy of the work product. If any team member has not prepared,
the inspection is aborted and rescheduled for a later date.
Page-by-page review
The moderator turns to the first page of the work product and asks if
anyone found any issues on that page. Team members bring up each issue
that they found during their preparation. For each issue, the moderator
leads a discussion between the team and the author to identify new
wording that will resolve the issue. (For work products which are not
text or documents, the team describes the change in sufficient detail
so that the repair of the defect is unambiguous to the author.) The
team should come up with the actual text which will be inserted into
the document in order to fix the defect; the moderator should add this
fix should to the inspection log. If the team cannot come up with a fix
on the spot, or if discussion lasts more than about five minutes, the
moderator adds it to the inspection log as an open issue and assigns it
to the team member who brought it up (and anyone else who is involved)
so they can work with the author to resolve it. Once all issues for the
page are discussed, the moderator moves to the next page in the work
product.
Sample Inspection Log
Rework
After the inspection meeting is over, the author makes the changes in
the inspection log and works with the inspection team members to
resolve all open issues. When the changes are complete, the author
turns the updated work product over to the moderator.
Follow-up
The moderator distributes the updated work product to the inspection
team. Each team member verifies that he can now approve the work
product. If there are any issues that cannot be resolved or additional
defects which were not caught, he notifies the moderator, who calls
another inspection meeting and starts the inspection process over
again. Once the team gets through an inspection without any open issues
and can agree on any changes that must be made, the work product can be
updated and distributed for approval.
Approval
If any inspector feels that there are still further issues raised by
the corrections to the work product, another inspection meeting can be
held; however, the project manager and author can also work
individually with everyone involved to make sure that the changes are
adequate. Once everyone on the team feels that the changes they
identified are adequate, they can approve the updated work product
without holding another inspection meeting.
The moderator adds a signature page to the work product and distributes
a printed version for signature approval. The signed work product is
archived
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