This document discusses different types of technical document reviews, including walkthroughs, technical reviews, and inspections. Walkthroughs involve guiding participants through a document step-by-step to facilitate understanding and gather feedback. Technical reviews focus on achieving consensus on technical content among experts. Inspections are the most formal type, where reviewers thoroughly check documents in advance individually before meeting to discuss defects. The goals of reviews generally include information gathering, knowledge transfer, establishing common understanding, and defect detection at various stages of the development life cycle.

1. S t a t i c t e c h n i q u e s
T e s t i n g a n d I m p l e m e n t a t i o n S y s t e m
M u h a m m a d I b n u
P r o g r a m S t u d i S 1 S i s t e m I n f o r m a s i
F a k u l t a s S a i n s d a n T e k n o l o g i
U n i v e r s i t a s I s l a m N e g e r i S u l t a n S y a r i f K a s i m R i a u

2. Types of review

3. A single document may be the
subject of more than one review. If
more than one type of review is
used, the order may vary. For
example, an informal review may be
carried out before a technical review,
or an inspection may be carried out
on a requirements specification
before a walkthrough with
customers. It is apparent that none
of the following types of review is the
'winner', but the different types serve
different purposes at different stages
in the life cycle of a document.
Introduction.
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4. 4
The main review types, their main characteristics and common objectives are
described below.
Walkthrough
A walkthrough is characterized by the author of the document under review
guiding the participants through the document and his or her thought
processes, to achieve a common understanding and to gather feedback. This
is especially useful if people from outside the software discipline are present,
who are not used to, or cannot easily understand software development
documents. The content of the document is explained step by step by the
author, to reach consensus on changes or to gather information.

5. 5
Within a walkthrough the author does most of the preparation. The
participants, who are selected from different departments and
backgrounds, are not required to do a detailed study of the documents
in advance. Because of the way the meeting is structured, a large
number of people can participate and this larger audience can bring a
great number of diverse viewpoints regarding the contents of the
document being reviewed as well as serving an educational purpose. If
the audience represents a broad cross-section of skills and
disciplines, it can give assurance that no major defects are 'missed' in
the walkthrough. A walkthrough is especially useful for higher-level
documents, such as requirement specifications and architectural
documents

6. 6
goals can be
applicable:
to present the document to stakeholders
both within and outside the software
discipline, in order to gather information
regarding the topic under documentation
to explain (knowledge transfer)
and evaluate the contents of the
document
to establish a common
understanding of the document

7. 7
Key
characteristics
of walkthroughs
are:
The meeting is led by the authors;
often a separate scribe is present
Scenarios and dry runs
may be used to validate the
content
Separate pre-meeting preparation
for reviewers is optional.

8. A technical review is a discussion
meeting that focuses on achieving
consensus about the technical content of
a document. Compared to inspections,
technical reviews are less formal and
there is little or no focus on defect
identification on the basis of referenced
documents, intended readership and
rules. During technical reviews defects
are found by experts, who focus on the
content of the document. The experts
that are needed for a technical review
are, for example, architects, chief
designers and key users. In practice,
technical reviews vary from quite informal
to very formal.
Technical
review
8

9. 9
The goals of a
technical review
are to:
assess the value of technical concepts
and alternatives in the product and project
environment
establish consistency in the use
and representation of technical
concepts
ensure, at an early stage, that
technical concepts are used
correctly

10. 10
It is a documented defect-
detection process that involves
peers and technical experts.
It is often performed as a peer
review without management
partici pation.
Ideally it is led by a trained
moderator, but possibly also by a
technical expert
A separate preparation is carried
out during which the product is
examined and the defects are
found
More formal characteristics such as the use of
checklists and a logging list or issue log are
optional

11. Inspection is the most formal review
type. The document under inspection is
prepared and checked thoroughly by the
reviewers before the meeting, comparing
the work product with its sources and
other referenced documents, and using
rules and checklists. In the inspection
meeting the defects found are logged
and any discussion is postponed until the
discussion phase. This makes the
inspection meeting a very efficient
meeting.
Inspection
11

12. The reason for carrying out inspections
can be explained by using Weinberg's
concept of egoless engineering
[Weinberg, 1971]. Weinberg refers to the
human tendency to self-justify actions.
Since we tend not to see evidence that
conflicts with our strong beliefs, our
ability to find errors in our own work is
impaired. Because of this tendency,
many engineering organizations have
established independent test groups that
specialize in finding defects. Similar
principles have led to the introduction of
inspections and reviews in general
Inspection
12

13. Depending on the organization and the
objectives of a project, inspections can
be balanced to serve a number of goals.
For example, if the time to market is
extremely important, the emphasis in
inspections will be on efficiency. In a
safety-critical market, the focus will be on
effectiveness.
Inspection
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14. THANK YOU! For Attention
Graham et.al(2006)
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