Role of reviews in testing software deliverables
Review goals are informational, communicational, and educational, whereby review participants learn about the contents of the developing software artifacts to help them understand the role of their own work and to plan for future stages of development. Reviews often represent project milestones and support the establishment of a baseline for a software artifact. Thus, they also have a role in project management, project monitoring, and control. Review data can also have an influence on test planning. The types and quantity of defects found during review can help test planners select effective classes of tests, and may also have an influence testing goals. In some cases clients/users attend the review meetings and give feedback to the development team, so reviews are also a means for client communication. To summarize, the many benefits of a review program are: • higher-quality software; • increased productivity (shorter rework time); • closer adherence to project schedules (improved process control); • increased awareness of quality issues.