The document outlines the process, objectives, and benefits of software inspections aimed at improving defect removal efficiency in software development. It details the roles and responsibilities of participants in inspections, the importance of management support, and attributes of a robust inspection process. Additionally, it emphasizes the necessity of conducting requirements inspections to address common issues arising from poorly written software requirements.

1. Software Inspections

2. Defect Removal Efficiency
The number of defects found prior to
releasing a product
divided by
The number of defects found prior to
release plus the number reported by
customers during the first n months of
actual use
times 100%

3. Objectives of an Inspection
 Find problems at the earliest possible
point in the software development
process
 Ensure that agreement is reached on
rework that may need to be done
 Verify that any rework done meets
predefined criteria

4. Other Benefits of Inspections
 Provide data on product quality and
process effectiveness
 Build technical knowledge among team
members
 Increase the effectiveness of software
validation testing
 Raise the standard of excellence for
software engineers

5. Participants of an Inspection
 Moderator – Coordinates the inspection
and leads the discussion
 Producer – Responsible for the work
being inspected
 Reader – Paraphrases the work
inspected
 Inspector – Inspects the product
 Recorder – Records problems discussed
 Manager – Supervises the producer

6. Responsibilities of the
Moderator
 Understand the information being
inspected
 Lead the team in an effective discussion
 Mediate disputes
 Recognize key issues and keep the
team focused on them
 Maintain an unbiased view of the
information being presented
 Assign responsibilities appropriately

7. Responsibilities of the
Producer
 Insure that the work product is ready for
inspection
 Make required information available on time
 Support the moderator in making meeting
arrangements, providing copies of materials,
and establishing schedules for any required
corrective action
 Promptly resolve all problems identified
 Remain objective and avoid becoming
defensive

8. Responsibilities of the Reader
 Be thoroughly familiar with the work
product being inspected
 Identify logical chunks of information and
be able to paraphrase the information in
each chunk to allow the moderator to
keep the team focused on one chunk at
a time
 Support the moderator

9. Responsibilities of the
Inspectors
 Be thoroughly familiar with the work product
being inspected as well as the appropriate
documents and standards for the product
 Identify discrepancies between the work
product and applicable documents and
standards
 Focus on identifying problems, not solving them
 Remain objective
 Criticize the product not the producer
 Support the moderator

10. Responsibilities of the
Recorder
 Be thoroughly familiar with the work
product being inspected
 Record all issues raised by the team and
ensure that they are recorded correctly
 Record additional information as
requested by the moderator
 Support the moderator

11. Responsibilities of the
Manager
 Help decide what to inspect
 Include inspections in project schedules
 Allocate resources for inspections
 Support inspection training
 Participate in the selection of moderators
 Support the moderator in completing any
required rework

12. Attributes of a Good Process
(according to SEI)
 The process is written
 The process is flexible and can be changed
 Everyone agrees to follow the process
 The process includes metrics, which are used
to measure process efficiency
 Metrics are the basis for changing the process
 The process is actively managed

13. Institutionalizing Inspections
Management Issues
 Management must:
 Understand and support the objectives of
the inspection process
 Be willing to commit the resources
necessary to train inspectors
 Be willing to include inspections in project
schedules

14. Institutionalizing Inspections
(Development Process Issues)
 There must be:
 A written software development process or
one must be developed
 Management support for preparing a
software development process if it doesn’t
already exist
 A way to modify the process, if necessary,
to include inspections at appropriate points
 Active management of the process

15. Institutionalizing Inspections
(Development Process Issues)
 There must be:
 Support for inspections within the software
engineering organization
 An identification of potential obstacles to
the inspection process
 Resources available to train people in the
inspection process and a commitment to
train new employees as they are hired

16. Institutionalizing Inspections
(Inspection Metrics)
 There must be:
 A definition of what product and process
metrics will be collected form inspections
and how this data will be used
 A continuous improvement process in
place that identifies improvements to the
inspection process based on collected data

17. Requirements Inspections
“If you can only afford to do one
inspection on a project, you will get the
biggest return on investment from a
requirements inspection. A
requirements inspection should be the
one inspection that is never skipped.”
- Steven R. Rakitin

18. Why are Requirements
Inspections Important?
 Requirements are the most common
source of problems in the development
process
 Requirements are written in English by
people who typically have little or no
training in writing software requirements
 The English language is imprecise,
ambiguous, and nondeterministic

19. Attributes of Good
Requirements Specifications
 Unambiguous
 Complete
 Verifiable
 Consistent
 Modifiable
 Traceable
 Usable

20. Requirements Inspection
Objectives
 Make sure each requirement in the
Software Requirements Specification
(SRS) is consistent and traceable to the
document that preceded the SRS
 Make sure each requirement in the SRS
is clear, concise, internally consistent,
unambiguous, and testable

21. Requirements Inspection
Prerequisites
 All inspection team members must receive
appropriate training
 The document(s) that preceded the SRS must
have been reviewed and approved
 The SRS must have been internally reviewed
 A requirements inspection checklist must be
available
 Guidelines for a good SRS must be available

22. A Sample Inspection Process
 Planning
 Overview Meeting (optional)
 Preparation
 Inspection Meeting
 Follow-up

23. Objectives of Planning
 Determine which work products need to
be inspected
 Determine whether a work product is
ready for inspection
 Identify the inspection team
 Determine whether an overview meeting
is necessary
 Schedule overview and inspection
meetings

24. Objective of Overview Meeting
 Educate the inspection team on the work
product being inspected and discuss the
review material

25. Objective of Preparation
 To be prepared for the inspection
meeting by critically reviewing the review
materials and the work product

26. Objective of the Inspection
Meeting
 Identify errors and defects in the work
product being inspected
An error is a problem in which the software or
documentation does not meet defined requirements and
is found at the point of origin
A defect is a problem in which the software or its
documentation does not meet defined requirements and
is found beyond the point of origin.

27. Objective of the Follow-Up
 Assure that appropriate action has been
taken to correct problems found during
an inspection