INSPECTIONS

A typical inspection includes the following stages:

• Planning
• Overview Meeting (Kickoff)
• Preparation
• Inspection Meeting
• Rework
• Follow-up

• EDUCATION, TRAINING, COURSES, AND CONFERENCES
  • Don O'Neill's Software Inspections Training Offerings (http://members.aol.com/ONeillDon/inspection_training.html) Don O'Neill, an independent consultant, offers a software inspections course and lab, a software inspections management workshop, and an executive presentation on software inspections.
  • Optimizing Software Inspections (http://www.software.org/DCSpin/Past_Meetings.html#JUN97) An overview and slides from an 18 June 1997 presentation by Tom Gilb to the Washington, DC, Software Process Improvement Network (SPIN).
  • Software Systems Quality Consulting (http://www.concentric.net/~Ssqc/) SSQC is a consulting, education, and training organization run by Bill Deibler. Their emphasis seems to ISO 9000 and the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM).
  • Tom Gilb Presentations (http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/consulting/sw_testing/templates.html) Mostly ZIPped files of Powerpoint slides for Tom Gilb's courses on inspections, requirements, etc. Maintained on the Software Technology Support Center server.
  • Weiss and Kimbrough Inspection Materials (http://www.ics.hawaii.edu/~johnson/FTR/Weiss/weiss) A collection of tutorial information on inspections, created by Alan R. Weiss of Motorola, Inc., and Kerry Kimbrough of MPWR Systems.

• LITERATURE
  • A Business Case for Software Process Improvement: A DACS Technical Report (http://www.dacs.dtic.mil/techs/roi.soar/soar.html) The purpose of this report is to provide the details necessary to rationalize, from a business perspective, investing in and performing software process improvement. Software process improvement has received much attention in the last few years. However, it has been very difficult to translate benefits achieved in one organization to another organization. The intent of this report is to generalize and model the cost benefits one can achieve from software process improvement.
  • Code Reading and Program Comprehension Bibliography (http://www2.umassd.edu/SWPI/ProcessBibliography/bib-codereading.html) An annotated bibliography containing references which concern research in how programmers, novice and expert, construct an understanding of source code. Included in these item are empirical studies aimed at validating theoretical models, articles related to tools support for the code reading activity, and articles related to instructional attempts to help students gain expertise.
  • Improving Inspections (http://www.pp.ph.ed.ac.uk/Exp/rc/moose/inspect/inspect.html) This article, by Rosemary Candlin, presents some thoughts she had after reading two books - `Software Inspection' by Tom Gilb and Dorothy Graham, and, to a lesser extent 'A Discipline of Software Engineering' by Watts Humphrey. She discusses how inspections fit into her group's work, including how to apply it to object-oriented programming.
  • Raytheon Electronic Systems Experience in Software Process Improvement (http://www.sei.cmu.edu/products/publications/95.reports/95.tr.017.html) The software engineering process group (SEPG) of Raytheon Electronic Systems (RES) is responsible for defining and implementing the Software Engineering Initiative, which outlines the policies, practices, and procedures (e.g. inspections) to be followed in developing complex software for large-scale commercial and defense projects. To accomplish these objectives, the SEPG has had to develop the organizational structure and techniques to meet the growing challenges of developing, maintaining, and improving its software engineering process in significant and measurable ways, including quantifying return on investment (ROI) and increasing the quality of the deliverable product.
  • Reviews and Inspections Bibliography (http://www2.umassd.edu/SWPI/TechnicalReview/review.html) An annotated bibliography containing references which concern reviews and inspections.
  • Setting Up a Software Inspection Program (http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/CrossTalk/1997/feb/softinsp.html) This is an article by Don O'Neil from the U.S. Air Force Software Technology Support Center's newsletter CrossTalk. Software inspections deliver an attractive return on investment and benefits in cost, schedule, quality, and customer satisfaction. As a reasoning activity among peers, software inspections serve as exit criteria for the activities of the lifecycle to conduct strict and close examinations of specifications, designs, code, and test procedures. This article shows the benefits of software inspections and the cost and methods to roll them out.
  • Software Process Improvement at Primark IMS (http://www.pimsl.com/Infoserver/Public/SPI/Index.html-ssi) Primark Investment Management Services initiated a Software Process Improvement program in November 1994 for its Icon product. Their program is based largely on the teachings of Tom Gilb. Document inspection is a cornerstone of this program. Primark IMS has posted some Inspection-related material here for you to view and download.
  • Software Technology Reference Guide - Software Inspections (http://www.sei.cmu.edu/technology/str/descriptions/inspections_body.html) This section, from the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Software Technology Reference Guide, provides an overview of software inspections.

• PEOPLE, PROGRAMS, AND ORGANIZATIONS
  • Don O'Neill (http://members.aol.com/ONeillDon/) As an independent consultant, Don O'Neill conducts defined programs for managing strategic software improvement. These include directing the National Software Quality Experiment, participating in the National Software Council, and producing and maintaining the section on software inspections in the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Software Technology Reference Guide.
  • Michael Fagan (http://www.mfagan.com/intro.htm) Web page for Michael Fagan Associates. Michael Fagan created formal software inspections.
  • Tom Gilb (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/KaiGilb/) The Web page for Result Planning Limited, Tom Gilb's consulting company.

• RELATED SITES
  • NASA STAC Formal Inspections Page (http://satc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fi/fipage.html) The NASA Software Technology Assurance Center provides an overview of formal inspections, as well as links to the Formal Inspection Guidebook and the Software Formal Inspection Process Standard, NASA-STD-2202-93.
  • Software Inspections and Review Organization (http://www.ics.hawaii.edu/~siro/) The Software Inspection and Review Organization (SIRO) is a voluntary organization devoted to the exchange of information about group-based examination of software work products, including the state of practice, emerging techniques, support resources, and industry use and metrics.
  • The WWW Formal Technical Review Archive (http://www.ics.hawaii.edu/~johnson/FTR/) A centralized source for materials on Formal Technical Review (FTR) a term encompassing a variety of software review methods such as Fagan Inspections, Active Design Reviews, and Phased Inspections.

• REPOSITORIES
  • National Software Quality Experiment (http://members.aol.com/ONeillDon/national_experiment.html) In 1992 the DOD Software Technology Strategy set the objective to reduce software problem rates by a factor of ten by the year 2000. The National Software Quality Experiment is being conducted to benchmark the state of software product quality and to measure progress towards the national objective. The centerpiece of the experiment is the Software Inspection Lab where data collection procedures, product checklists, and participant behaviors are packaged for operational project use. The uniform application of the experiment and the collection of consistent measurements are guaranteed through rigorous training of each participant. Thousands of participants from dozens of organizations are populating the experiment database with thousands of defects of all types along with pertinent information needed to pinpoint their root causes.

• SOFTWARE TOOLS
  • CheckMate (http://www.sybernet.ie/c_home.html) An automated C/C++ software inspection tool from SyberNet, Limited. Includes a free evaluation kit for downloading.

• STANDARDS
  • Software Formal Inspections Guidebook (http://satc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fi/gdb/fitext.txt) The Software Formal Inspections Guidebook is designed to support the inspection process of software developed by and for NASA. This document provides information on how to implement a recommended and proven method for conducting formal inspections of NASA software. The Guidebook is a companion document to NASA Standard 2202-93, Software Formal Inspections Standard, approved April 1993, which provides the rules, procedures, and specific requirements for conducting software formal inspections. In cases where program or project management decide to use the formal inspections method, this Guidebook provides additional information on how to establish and implement the process.
  • Software Formal Inspections Standard (http://satc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fi/std/fistdtxt.txt) NASA-STD-2202-93, the Software Formal Inspections Standard, is designed to support the inspection process of software developed for NASA. Its goal is to provide a framework and model for an inspection process that will detect and eliminate defects as early as possible in the software life cycle. This Standard describes a uniform process for NASA software formal inspections.
  • Software Technology Reference Guide - Software Inspections (http://www.sei.cmu.edu/technology/str/descriptions/inspections_body.html) This section, from the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Software Technology Reference Guide, provides an overview of software inspections.