Improving software inspection process with patterns

Abstract

The quality of a software product depends largely on the quality of the process that is used to develop it. In small software companies, the development process may be informal or even ad hoc, which causes uncertainty and variation in the product quality. However, quality issues are as important in small companies as in their larger counterparts. To sustain their dynamics and competitiveness, small organizations need to concentrate on the most effective quality assurance methods.Software inspection is a proven method for improving product quality and it provides a very costeffective way for small companies to improve their development processes. This study introduces a framework for adjusting the inspection process for the organization's specific needs and evaluating its capabilities. The main focus of this work, however, is on refining and improving the inspection process. The improvement is guided by concrete instructions that are documented as process patterns. The pattern approach has already been used successfully in several other areas of software engineering. Patterns aim at capturing the best practices of software development and transferring this knowledge between people or organizations.The framework for inspection process capability originates from the literature relating to different types of peer review methods and experiments with flexible and tool-supported inspections in small companies. Furthermore, generic process improvement models are studied to find a feasible structure for the framework. As a result of the analysis, the i3 capability model is introduced. The feasibility of the model has been investigated in real-life software organizations carrying out inspections.After the capability evaluation, the inspection process can be upgraded with the aid of improvement patterns, which provide structured and easy-to-follow guidelines for implementing improvements. An initial list of patterns, describing solutions to the most common problems confronted in the establishment of inspections, is extracted from related inspection research and an industrial experiment.The contributions of this study are, first, the new view of the inspection process, based on the fundamental activities that are performed during an inspection instead of a series of stages, as it is usually presented. An activity-based process description enables tailoring of the process for organization-specific needs and its targeted improvement. Second, the study introduces a practical, lightweight method for implementing the improvement. Patterns are especially suitable in companies where resources are limited and full-scale improvement programmes cannot be initiated. Furthermore, the generic process improvement models do not provide detailed information on how improvements should be carried out, and the pattern approach represents a promising method for that. Third, the inspection process currently does not have a very significant role in generic software process improvement models; this study helps in outlining the importance ...

Software inspection adoption: A mapping study

“…No sería una buena solución la incorporación de cambios (a causa de los factores encontrados) al proceso tradicional de inspección sin un profundo análisis del impacto de los mismos en la efectividad del proceso. Por ejemplo, quitarle rigurosidad o rigidez al proceso quizás haga que los inspectores se sientan más a gusto con el mismo pero por otra parte haga que el número de defectos encontrados disminuya [39].…”

A pattern approach to software inspection process improvement

“…Observations during the experiments in small companies attempting to find suitable forms of inspections compose another valuable source for the inspection improvement patterns. According to evaluations of the capability of inspection processes in real-life companies (Tervonen et al 2001;Harjumaa et al 2004b) and other experiments with different types of inspections (Tervonen et al 2001), the inadequacies in software inspection processes are often similar between organizations. In addition to literature and experiments, a number of research articles involving software inspections have been evaluated to locate the most typical problems with the process.…”

“…The new descriptions are more fundamental and straightforward than in the first draft. More details about the experiment can be found in Harjumaa et al 2004b. Other parts of the pattern structure are derived from the general pattern literature.…”

“…This may be desirable, for example, when the inspection process requires improvement in several process areas. Such was the case in the experiment in Buscom Oy, where inspections were introduced a short time ago and the process needed a sound foundation rather than narrowly targeted adjustments (Harjumaa et al 2004b).…”