Module 2

Introduction to Software
Inspections

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 Why Inspections?
 Inspections can be applied to many
different things by many different groups
 Inspections are a “Best Known Method”
(BKM) for increasing quality
– Developed by Michael Fagan at IBM, paper
published 1976
– Estimates: Inspections of design and code
usually remove 50-90% of defects before
testing
– Very economical compared to testing
 Formal inspections are more productive
than informal reviews

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 Cost of Fixing a Defect

Req Design Coding Test Accept Prod

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 Inspection Experience
 Widely used at many companies
– HP, Microsoft, IBM, AT&T, Bell Labs, etc. all have an
established track record with inspections
– Aetna: Found 82% of errors in a program by
inspections, was able to decrease development
resources by 25%
– AT&T : Reported 90% decrease in defects after
introducing inspections
 Finding defects early can save money and time
– TRW : Changes in requirements stage cost 50-200
times less than changes during coding or
maintenance
– JPL : Estimates saved $25,000 per inspection by
finding/fixing defects early on

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 Formal Inspections
 By formalizing the process, inspections
become systematic and repeatable
– Each person in the inspection process must
understand their role
– Use of checklists focus concentration on
detection of defects that have been
problematic
 Metrics
– Feedback and data collection metrics are
quantifiable
– Feed into future inspections to improve them
 Designers and developers learn to improve
their work through inspection participation
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 More reasons to use
inspections
 Inspections are measurable
 Ability to track progress
 Reduces rework and debug time
 Cannot guarantee that a deadline will
be met but can give early warning of
impending problems
 Information sharing with other
developers, testers
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 Definition
 What is an inspection?
– A formal review of a work product by
peers. A standard process is followed
with the purpose of detecting defects
early in the development lifecycle.
 Examples of work products
– Code, Specs, Web Pages
– Presentations, Guides, Requirements,
– Specifications, Documentation

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When are inspections used?
 Possible
anytime when code or
documents are complete
– Requirements: Inspect specs, plans,
schedules
– Design: Inspect architecture, design doc
– Implementation: Inspect technical code
– Test: Inspect test procedure, test report

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 What should be inspected?
 For existing code or documentation, select
– The most critical piece to the program’s
operation
– Most used section
– Most costly if defects were to exist
– Most error-prone
– Least well-known
– Most frequently changed
 For new code or documentation
– 20% <= inspect <= 100%

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 Defects
• Inspections are used to find defects
 A defect is a  Something wrong
deviation from  Missing
specific or information
expected  Common error
behavior
 Standards
violation
 Ambiguity
 Inconsistency
 Perception
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 Inspection Process
A rigorous team review of a work
product by peers of the producer.
 An independent moderator usually
leads the inspection
 To find defects, record them for
analysis, initiating the rework and
use for historical purpose.

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 Roles

Moderator Inspectors

Scriber Author
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 Inspection Process Flow

Planning and
Scheduling

Y
N Analysis
Overview Preparation Inspection Defects
Required Meeting Analysis Meeting
N
Y
Rework
Overview
Follow Up

Prevention
Meeting
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 Planning
 A Policy and procedures exist for the projects
organization
 Works products for inspections are identified in
the plan.
 Well defined work product completion or
readiness criteria are available
 Expected project participants have been trained
 Goals and targets have been established for the
volume/percentage of work products to be
inspected
 Estimate resources for inspections and allocate
budget
 Identify dependencies for the inspections
 Identify the risksSQAM
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 Scheduling
 Project Lead makes request to the moderator
 Determine the inspection meeting date
 Ensure that the work product is complete and
ready for inspection
 Schedule the inspection meeting

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 Overview
 Overview material to the inspection team members to
enable their better understanding
 Alternative is to give a tutorial
 Any format is fine
 Can be extended or follow up session can be scheduled
if required
 This is not an inspection meeting
 Open issues is known
 Participants are not familiar with the material, Material
is critical to the success of the project,work product is
large or complex – Mandatory
 Always required for SRS, Architectures, HLD, SDP and
any significant changes to major baselines.
 If inspectors are already familiar, this can be skipped

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 Preparation
 All members of the inspection team should
prepare including the moderator
 Materials should be provided in advance
 Moderator should confirm that sufficient time is
allocated
 Baseline materials, checklists, previous versions
of the work product, templates for logging the
defects can be inputs
 The questions and possible defects should be
marked
 Helps inspectors to understand the material,
identify possible defects in advance.
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 Meeting
 To find as many defects as possible
 Guidelines are to be followed and focus should be always
on the business
 The discussion is always within the scope of inspection
 Identified defects should be agreed by the team including
the producer
 Non-agreed defects can be marked as open issues
 Defects should be mentioned clear, crisp and easy to
understand
 Defects can be classified by class, severity and type
 Roles of reader and recorder
 Moderator can make the judgment for defects and open
issues

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 Analysis Meeting
 Optional, but recommended
 Performed immediately after the inspection
meeting
 Select the defects to discuss
 Determine the potential causes of the defects
 Record the analysis meeting results
 Provide them to SEPG as input for process
improvement considerations
 Should not take long time
 Only most critical and frequently occurring
defects can be analyzed

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 Rework
 All major defects should be fixed
 If not fixed, should be justified on the basis of
business objectives
 Defects elected to not be repaired must be
recorded
 Any open issues should be accepted as a defect
and repaired or accepted as CR for further
investigation or closed as non-defect
 Moderator need to escalate the open issue if not
resolved
 Once CRs are written and accepted defects are
repaired, the inspection is considered as closed
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 Follow Up
 Final activity of the inspection process
 Verification of the rework activity
 Moderator or any representative of the
moderator will review each fix made by the
producer
 Proposed closures on Open issues will also be
reviewed

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 Prevention Meeting
 Optional and depends on the analysis meeting
 Done periodically after series of inspections,
typically monthly
 Required data about each defect instance, when,
where found, type of defects and probable cause
 Team members come to consensus using DP
techniques
 Decide on proposed actions that could be taken
to prevent types of defects from occurring in
future.

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Data Recording and Reports
 Concurrent with all other activities in the
inspection process
Typical Data:
 Estimated size of work products
 Number of planned inspections
 Planned effort for inspections
 Actual Vs Planned inspections
 Time spent in individual activities
 No. of defects identified in individual
activities
 No. of re-inspections
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 Inspection Metrics
 Defect Density
 Defect Distribution
 Inspection Meeting Rate (Loc/hr or
FP/hr)
 Preparation Rate (Loc/hr or pages/hr)
 Inspection Meeting Efficiency
( Invested hours/defect)
 Inspection Effectiveness ( No. of
defects found in inspection/ Total
defects found in all activities)
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 Role of SQA in Inspection
 Assures that the project plan is documented and
includes planned inspections as required by policy
and procedures (planning)
 Ensures that once notification is sent, Moderator is
assigned and performing the necessary scheduling
tasks(Scheduling)
 Ensures that Overview meeting criteria is met and
appropriate decision is taken and recorded
(Overview)
 Ensures that Moderator has used the preparation
procedure and the inspectors performed sufficient
preparation(Preparation)
 Ensures that the modeator has used the inspection
meeting procedure and inspectors made sufficient25
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inspection(Meeting)
 Role of SQA in Inspection
 Ensures that the moderator has used the analysis
meeting checklist and reviews the recorders
report for sufficiency ( Analysis meeting)
 Reviews the sample results of the rework
(Rework)
 Reviews the final inspection report (Follow-up)
 Reviews the sample reports Supports SEPG for
process improvement initiatives (Prevention).
 Reviews the sample reports (Data recording and
reports)

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Qualities of Good Moderator
 Independent and objective
 Good leader
 Coach
 Technically good, may not be an
expert
 Good communication skills
 Sense of humour
 Trained
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 Activities performed by the
moderator
 Inspection scheduling
 Determine the need for overview
 Determine the inspection team
 Ensuring the availability of materials
 Assigning roles
 Chunking the materials
 Defining inspection activities schedule
Few thoughts:
9. Can the SQA play the role of a moderator
effectively?
10. Is online inspections successful?

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Inspection Data- What is required?
 Clear definition of policy regarding the data and
its use
 Management commitment
 Visible commitment to reliable inspections
 Clear training on how to collect, analyze and use
data
 Accepted definitions for the measures
 Infrastructure and tools to support collection and
analysis
 Feedback to individuals on time
 Visible use of data
 Data with integrity
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Practical Issues for Success
 Sufficient time (Preparation and inspection
meetings, reasonable length, Enforcing time
limits, Breaks during inspections and scheduled
times)
 Inspection is not really done unless it reached the
closed state.
 Right Inspectors
 Small teams
 Many metrics
 Inspections too formalized
 Only superficial errors are found
 Inspecting too much
 Some inspectors don’t contribute

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 Deadly sins of inspections
 Superficial commitment from management
 Not enough time in the schedule
 Resources not allocated
 Insufficient preparation
 Wrong people assigned
 Not using the data
 Treating inspections as a routine
 Using the checklist without thinking
 No training
 No entry/exit criteria

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 References
 Software Inspections – Ronald Radice, Tata
McGrawhill
 Peer Reviews in Software: A practical guide –Carl
E.Wiegers
 CMM in practice at Infosys, Pankaj Jalote
 Metrics and models in Software Quality
Engineering, Stephen Kan.

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 Other Methods
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What Present Technical Formal
idea or presentation review by
proposal of work peers
Audienc Mgmt/Tech Tech Tech
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Objectiv Provide Explain Find
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Evaluate find design early
specs or or logic - Find
plan – Give defect defects
StatusSQAM Course, -Proficience,
Give IISc 33