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CHAPTER 8 SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE 207

At the end of the review, all attendees of the FTR must decide whether to (1) accept
the product without further modification, (2) reject the product due to severe errors
(once corrected, another review must be performed), or (3) accept the product pro-
visionally (minor errors have been encountered and must be corrected, but no addi-
tional review will be required). The decision made, all FTR attendees complete a
sign-off, indicating their participation in the review and their concurrence with the
review team's findings.

8.5.2 Review Reporting and Record Keeping
During the FTR, a reviewer (the recorder) actively records all issues that have been
raised. These are summarized at the end of the review meeting and a review issues
list is produced. In addition, a formal technical review summary report is completed.
A review summary report answers three questions:

1. What was reviewed?
2. Who reviewed it?
3. What were the findings and conclusions?

The review summary report is a single page form (with possible attachments). It
becomes part of the project historical record and may be distributed to the project
leader and other interested parties.
The review issues list serves two purposes: (1) to identify problem areas within the
product and (2) to serve as an action item checklist that guides the producer as cor-
Technical Review
Summary Report and rections are made. An issues list is normally attached to the summary report.
Issues List It is important to establish a follow-up procedure to ensure that items on the issues
list have been properly corrected. Unless this is done, it is possible that issues raised
can “fall between the cracks.” One approach is to assign the responsibility for follow-
up to the review leader.

8.5.3 Review Guidelines
Guidelines for the conduct of formal technical reviews must be established in advance,
distributed to all reviewers, agreed upon, and then followed. A review that is uncon-
trolled can often be worse that no review at all. The following represents a minimum
set of guidelines for formal technical reviews:

1. Review the product, not the producer. An FTR involves people and egos. Con-
ducted properly, the FTR should leave all participants with a warm feeling of
Don’t point out errors
harshly. One way to be accomplishment. Conducted improperly, the FTR can take on the aura of an
gentle is to ask a inquisition. Errors should be pointed out gently; the tone of the meeting
question that enables should be loose and constructive; the intent should not be to embarrass or
the producer to belittle. The review leader should conduct the review meeting to ensure that
discover his or her own
error. the proper tone and attitude are maintained and should immediately halt a
review that has gotten out of control.