Development of a review technique for conceptual design plans

Inspections and reviews are one of the most effective ways of detecting errors in software development. The methods are also cost-effective because defects can be spotted early in development, and thus the cost of repairing the defects is lower. Reading techniques are procedures that are used in the inspection or review of a software artefact. The most common procedures are simple ad-hoc reading and a checklist-based reading technique. However, more advanced and detailed procedures have been created for various purposes. One of these advanced reading techniques is perspective-based reading, in which different reviewers examine the document from different perspectives. In this work we have applied perspective-based reading to the review process of design phase documentation, particularly conceptual design plans. We developed five review procedures (scenarios) that can be used for reviewing conceptual design plans. One of the developed reading scenarios was tested to review a real conceptual design document. The review was performed by an automation designer working in the project related to the case study. The reviewer made nine findings using the technique. In the reviewers own experience, the technique was helpful for finding defects and more effective than the technique usually used.