A software technical review is examined by a team of qualified software engineers for the suitability of the software product. This process can also be defined as a critical evaluation of an object in the software. Through the software technical review process, we can identify the errors or defects in the software product in the early phase itself.
Table of Content
What is a Software Technical Review?
A software technical review is a formal process where software artifacts such as requirements, design documents, source code, test plans, and other related documents are examined by a team of peers to identify defects and improvement opportunities. The primary goal is to ensure that the software meets its specified requirements and is free from defects before moving on to the next phase of development.
Objectives of Software Technical Reviews
Here are The objectives of Software Technical Reviews are as follows:
- Defect Identification: To detect defects and issues early in the software development lifecycle.
- Quality Assurance: To ensure that the software meets the quality standards and requirements.
- Improvement: To suggest improvements in design, code, and documentation.
- Knowledge Sharing: To facilitate the exchange of ideas and knowledge among team members.
- Compliance: To ensure that the software adheres to regulatory and compliance standards.
Types Software Technical Review
The intent of this section is for the students to realize that the types of reviews that must be performed on a project are dependent upon the specific intermediate deliverables that are produced. Various application areas should also be described in the context of their review processes.
1. Peer Reviews
Informal reviews conducted by colleagues to provide quick feedback and suggestions.
- Description: Informal reviews conducted by colleagues, peers, or teammates to provide quick feedback and suggestions. These reviews focus on improving the quality of the work product through collaborative discussion and immediate corrective action.
- Purpose: To identify defects early, share knowledge, and improve the quality of the software product.
- Process: Usually unstructured and does not follow a formal process. Can occur spontaneously, often during pair programming or code sharing sessions.
- Example: A developer asks a teammate to review a piece of code they just wrote.
2. Walkthroughs
Semi-formal reviews where the author of the document or code explains the content to a group of reviewers.
- Description: Semi-formal reviews where the author of the document or code explains the content to a group of reviewers. The focus is on understanding the material and gathering feedback rather than on finding defects.
- Purpose: To ensure that the content is clear, logical, and meets the requirements. Walkthroughs also serve as a knowledge-sharing mechanism.
- Process: The author presents the material, often using slides or documents, and reviewers ask questions and provide feedback. No formal defect logging is usually done.
- Example: A project manager walks the team through a new project plan to gather feedback and ensure everyone understands the upcoming tasks.
3. Inspections
Formal reviews with a structured process and predefined roles, focusing on defect detection and correction.
- Description: Formal reviews with a structured process and predefined roles, focusing on defect detection and correction. Inspections are systematic and thorough, with the goal of identifying as many defects as possible.
- Purpose: To detect and correct defects early in the development process, ensuring high-quality deliverables.
- Process: Involves planning, preparation, inspection meeting, rework, and follow-up. Specific roles such as moderator, author, scribe, and reviewers are assigned.
- Example: A software development team conducts a formal code inspection meeting to review the latest module of the application.
4. Audits
Reviews conducted to ensure compliance with standards, regulations, and contractual agreements.
- Description: Reviews conducted to ensure compliance with standards, regulations, and contractual agreements. Audits are typically performed by external parties or specialized internal teams.
- Purpose: To verify that processes and products comply with specified requirements, ensuring legal and contractual obligations are met.
- Process: Involves reviewing documentation, processes, and products against a predefined set of criteria. Findings are documented, and non-compliances are reported.
- Example: An external auditor reviews a company's software development processes to ensure they meet ISO standards.
Difference between Formal and Informal Reviews
Furthermore, the reviews are classified into two types: Formal and Informal reviews.
Informal reviews are meant to describe the type of review that typically occurs spontaneously among peers and in which the reviewers have any work and also not create a review report. Formal reviews are characterized by carefully planned meetings in which reviewers are held accountable for their participation in the review and in which a review report containing action items is generated and acted upon.
Aspects | Formal reviews | Informal reviews |
|---|---|---|
Purpose and Objectives | - Detect defects<br> - Ensure compliance with standards<br> - Verify software requirements | - Provide quick feedback<br> - Catch obvious defects<br> - Share knowledge |
Process and Structure | Follows a structured process<br> - Includes planning, preparation, review meeting, rework, and follow-up | Flexible and unstructured process<br> - May involve ad-hoc or impromptu reviews |
Documentation | Extensive documentation<br> - Formal records of defects and issues<br> - Meeting minutes and action items | Minimal to no documentation<br> - May rely on verbal feedback or brief notes |
Participants | Includes specific roles such as moderator, author, reviewers, and scribe<br> - Participants are pre-selected | Can include any relevant stakeholders<br> - Participants are usually chosen informally |
Importance of Software Technical Review
Some of the reasons behind the importance of STRs are as follows:
- It also impacts employee morale. For some employees, such as maintenance personnel, the reviews may provide an opportunity to gain visibility of their work and, thus, will be viewed positively.
- It helps in software maintainability as it improves the developer’s general understanding of the whole system, which further facilitates error diagnosis during maintenance.
- It helps in the tracking of a project for both project management and customers. With this, we can track management, customers, and also developers' projects.
- They provide feedback about the software and its development process. Examples of how review processes can impact the existing software development such as by identifying weaknesses in the software that will require additional validation effort in the future must also be provided.
Review Methodologies
There are many variations to performing technical reviews. Most of these approaches involve a group meeting to assess a work product; however, variations of reviews exist that do not require a review group meeting. The three major approaches for performing the software technical review are given as follows:
- Walk-through - Walk-throughs are a formal and very systematic type of verification method as compared to peer review. In a walkthrough, the author of the software document presents the document to other persons which can range from 2 to 7.
- Inspections - Inspections are the most structured and formal type of verification method and are commonly known as inspections. It requires detailed preparation for the reviewing team members and it includes a very high systematic review of the software product.
- Audits - It can also be described as an external type of review process as it serves to ensure that the software is correctly verified and working as per the requirement.
Conclusion
Software Technical Reviews (STRs) play a critical role in the software development lifecycle by identifying defects, ensuring quality, and promoting knowledge sharing among team members. These reviews can be classified into various types such as Peer Reviews, Walkthroughs, Inspections, and Audits, each serving specific purposes from informal feedback to formal compliance verification.
Formal reviews follow a structured process and involve detailed documentation, while informal reviews are flexible and focus on quick feedback. Both types are essential for improving software quality, maintaining standards compliance, and facilitating effective communication and collaboration within the development team. Overall, STRs contribute significantly to the successful delivery of reliable and high-quality software products.