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The rest of the inspection log contains a list of action items. Each item is marked with the
exact location of the defect and the solution proposed by the inspection team. In many
cases, the solution is a wording change. The work product contains a specific sentence that
is unclear, ambiguous, or incorrect. After a brief (usually under five minutes) discussion,
the inspection team identifies wording that will correct the defect. In this case, the moder-
ator writes the new wording in the inspection log, and the author agrees to update the
work product accordingly.

In other cases, the solution is too complex to be identified at the inspection meeting. If the
discussion lasts too long, the moderator should stop it and add an open issue to the inspec-
tion log. This issue must be assigned to the author and, optionally, one or more inspection
team members; it is their responsibility to resolve the issue. The log item for this must con-
tain a specific set of actions to be performed (“meet with Marketing to research this missing
feature,” “rewrite lines 534 through 539 so system will perform data check on report B”).

It is important that the inspection log is readily available to all inspectors. After the meet-
ing, it should be distributed to all inspectors, and stored along with previous versions of
the document. If the document is checked into a version control system (see Chapter 7),
then each inspection log should be checked in along with it. All changes must be made
before the work product can be inspected again: open issues must be closed, defects must
be repaired, and every issue reported in the log must be addressed.
Inspect the Work Product
During the inspection meeting, a moderator leads the team page by page through a
printed copy of the work product. The purpose of the meeting is to identify and fix any
defects. The moderator does not actually read each page out loud or give the team time to
read the page. The team members read the document prior to the inspection, during their
preparation. When the moderator goes through the document page by page, he simply
asks the reviewers for their defects on page 1; once those are done, he asks for the defects
on page 2 and continues through the rest of the document.

Prior to the inspection meeting, each team member should be given a checklist to help her
identify defects. Checklists will be different for different kinds of work products. (In other

chapters, checklists will be included for each type of work product that should be
inspected.) The script in Table 5-1 describes the process for an inspection meeting.
TABLE 5-1. Inspection meeting script

Name Inspection meeting script
Purpose To run a moderated inspection meeting
Summary In an inspection meeting, a moderator leads a team of reviewers in reviewing a work product
and fixing any defects that are found.
Work Products Input
Work product being inspected
Output
Inspection log

78 CHAPTER FIVE