A walkthrough is an informal way of presenting a technical document in
a meeting. Unlike other kinds of reviews, the author runs the
walkthrough: calling the meeting, inviting the reviewers, soliciting
comments and ensuring that everyone present understands the work
product. It typically does not follow a rigid procedure; rather, the
author presents the work product to the audience in a manner that makes
sense. Many walkthroughs present the document using a slide
presentation, where each section of a work product is shown using a set
of slides. Work products that are commonly reviewed using a walkthrough
include design specifications and use cases.
Walkthroughs
Wakthroughs are used when the author of a work product needs to take
into account the perspective of someone who does not have the technical
expertise to review the document. For example, a requirements analyst
must make sure that the use cases she builds will provide the
functionality that the users need, but the user representatives may not
have seen use cases before and would be overwhelmed by them. If these
users are simply included as part of an inspection team, it is likely
that they will read the document and, failing to find many defects, sit
silently through the inspection meeting without contributing much. This
is not their fault—their training is in the business of the
organization, not in reading and understanding software engineering
documents. This is where a walkthrough can be a useful technique to
ensure that everyone understands the document.
Before the walkthrough, the author should distribute any material that
will be presented to each person who will be attending. For example, if
the walkthrough is done as a slide presentation, copies of the slides
should be e-mailed to the attendees. If only a portion of that material
is going to be covered, that should be indicated as well.
During the walkthrough meeting, the author should solicit feedback from
the audience. This is an opportunity to brainstorm new or alternative
ideas, and to check that each person understands the document that is
being presented. The author should go through parts of the document to
make sure that it was presented in as clear a manner as possible.
These guidelines can help an author lead a successful walkthrough meeting:
- Verify that everyone is present who needs to review the work
product. This could include users, stakeholders, engineering leads,
managers and other interested people.
- Verify that everyone present understands the purpose of the walkthrough meeting, and how the material is going to be presented.
- Describe each section of the material to be covered by the walkthrough.
- Present the material in each section, ensuring that everyone present understands the material being presented.
- Lead discussion to identify missing any sections or material.
- Document all issues that are raised by walkthrough attendees.
After the meeting, the author should follow up with individual
attendees who may have had additional information or insights. The
document should then be corrected to reflect any issues that were
raised.
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