The title of this Blog may be considered to be a self-evident truth. How else would you review a design except by reviewing it? There are other ways which we will get to in a couple of weeks. However, our initial look will be by the standard method of reviewing them and what a Quality Assurance person might get out of the review.
Reviewing a design can be difficult for some people. The following problems may arise:
- You don’t know anything about the technical solution
- The design is very technical
- It is difficult to maintain concentration for an extended period of time
There are ways around these problems. Some of them are personal and some relate to the methodology used to review the requirements.
On the personal level:
- Familiarise yourself with the system for which the design is being created. It will help! You cannot review in a vacuum.
- Organise the design into sections so you can concentrate on a particular section at once.
- Ask for a System Boundary Diagram (SBD).
We emphasized one item above. The System Boundary Diagram can be created at many levels but the common idea is that it shows the system in a pictorial form and identifies the interfaces to external systems. The act of creating an SBD brings many problems to the surface and allows the Scope of testing to be set.
Once you have completed your personnel review, you may be asked to join a group review bringing in your comments and hearing from everyone else. There are several methods of review depending on Risk including Desk Checking, Walkthroughs, Reviews, and finally Inspections. These vary from informal to very formal. However, they are all aimed at finding the errors in the design sooner rather than later. They also all assume on previous individual work.
For a different way to review the design, look for our next blog on this topic.
Take a look at some of the seminars that we offer that address this situation and see if they apply to your situation. Design review is very cost-effective.
Contact us for further information.
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