Peer Reviews In Software: A Practical Guide

""I will tell my friends and other folks in quality assurance and process management roles to RUN (don't walk) and buy "Peer Reviews in Software," In fact, my organization could use this book RIGHT NOW."" --Brad Appleton

"Karl's writing is nicely motivational, reasonably detailed, and covers the range of issues that are important.""--Mark Paulk

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes; it is part of what makes us human. Catching the errors early, however, before they become difficult to find and expensive to correct, is very important. A peer review program is a vital component of any quality software development effort, yet too few software professionals have had the experience or training necessary to implement peer reviews successfully.

Concise, readable, and pragmatic, "Peer Reviews in Software" walks you through the peer review process and gives you the specific methods and techniques you need to help ensure a quality software release. Comprehensively covering both formal and informal processes, the book describes various peer review methods and offers advice on their appropriate use under a variety of circumstances.

This book focuses on--but is not limited to--the technique of inspection. This is the most formal, rigorous, and effective type of peer review. The various stages of inspection--including planning, individual preparation, conducting inspection meetings, and follow-up--are discussed in detail. In addition, "Peer Reviews in Software" explores the cultural and social nuances involved in critiquing the work of others, and reveals

Specific topics include: Overcoming resistance to reviewsInspection teams and rolesInspection process stagesScheduling inspectioneventsAnalyzing inspection dataPeer review trainingCritical success factors and pitfallsRelating peer reviews to process improvement models

Karl Wiegers closes with a look at special review challenges, including peer review of large work products and geographically dispersed development teams. He provides many practical resources to help you jump-start your review program, enhance communications on your projects, and ultimately ship high-quality software on schedule.
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The easy, practical, real-world guide to effective software peer review.

-- Focuses on the issues that really matter -- including the all-important social, cultural, and psychological aspects of peer review.

-- Compares each leading method of formal and informal peer review -- and identifies key success factors.

-- Covers the "nuts and bolts" of inspection -- including processes, metrics, and techniques for reviewing large work products or distributed development.

Peer review works: it leads to better software. But implementing peer review can be challenging -- for technical, political, social, cultural, and psychological reasons. In this book, best-selling software engineering author Karl Wiegers presents succinct, easy-to-use techniques for formal and informal software peer review, helping project managers and developers choose the right approach and implement it successfully. Wiegers begins by discussing the cultural and social aspects of peer review, and reviewing several formal and informal approaches: their implications, their challenges, and the opportunities they present for quality improvement. The heart of the book is an in-depth look at the "nuts and bolts" of inspection, including the roles of inspectors, planning, examining work products, conducting code review meetings; improving the inspection process, and achieving closure. Wiegers presents a full chapter on metrics, and then addresses the process and political challenges associated with implementing successful software review programs. The book concludes with solutions to special review challenges, including large work products and software created by distributed development teams. For all developers, project managers, business analysts, quality engineers, testers, process improvement leaders, and documentation specialists.