Software Review - Value of Reviews

Value of Reviews

The most obvious value of software reviews (especially formal reviews) is that they can identify issues earlier and more cheaply than they would be identified by testing or by field use (the defect detection process). The cost to find and fix a defect by a well-conducted review may be one or two orders of magnitude less than when the same defect is found by test execution or in the field.

A second, but ultimately more important, value of software reviews is that they can be used to train technical authors in the development of extremely low-defect documents, and also to identify and remove process inadequacies that encourage defects (the defect prevention process).

This is particularly the case for peer reviews if they are conducted early and often, on samples of work, rather than waiting until the work has been completed. Early and frequent reviews of small work samples can identify systematic errors in the Author's work processes, which can be corrected before further faulty work is done. This improvement in Author skills can dramatically reduce the time it takes to develop a high-quality technical document, and dramatically decrease the error-rate in using the document in downstream processes.

As a general principle, the earlier a technical document is produced, the greater will be the impact of its defects on any downstream activities and their work products. Accordingly, greatest value will accrue from early reviews of documents such as marketing plans, contracts, project plans and schedules, and requirements specifications. Researchers and practitioners have shown the effectiveness of reviewing process in finding bugs and security issues,.