The definition of a formal inspection or software inspection varies a bit depending on who you ask, but its always a small variant on the fagan inspection, including a reading phase where participants examine code separately, an inspection phase everyone together in a room, and strict roles and data collection. Invented in the early 70s by michael fagan of ibm inspired by production engineering inspection a widely applicable, rigorous and formal software engineering qc technique inspection of any document when it is believed complete and ready for use. Many checklists have been published since michael fagan created the inspection process in the mid. Can you be objective on the subject of the inspection. Successful software process improvement, by robert b. Do you understand why this particular inspection is being held.
A survey of software inspection checklists acm sigsoft. Guideline checklists for fagan inspection 1 checklist for inspection moderators qualifications 1. The fagan inspection process involves the following roles to be. Not that hardware and software sparky and mushhead ever have that. Design and code inspections to reduce errors in program development. Fagan inspection plural fagan inspections software engineering a structured process of trying to find defects in source code, specifications, and other design documents. The fagan inspection process consists of 7 operations. However, due to the implementation of fagan inspection, software testing company can achieve the product of high quality and reduce the number of errors on. This paper summarizes some of the practical aspects of. Fagan inspections can be applied to any work product that takes the form of a document, but like many inspection techniques, most of the available research. Michael fagan developed the formal software inspection process at ibm in the mid 1970s, hence the term fagan inspection. The goal of fagan inspection is to make sure that all the documentation is correct and clear for understanding, created up to standard.
It is named after michael fagan, who is credited with being the inventor of formal software inspections. Michael fagan helped develop the formal software inspection process at ibm, hence the term fagan inspection. What it does do is promote development of software over development of. Rethinking software development, testing and inspection cio. In 1972, michael created the software inspection process, and has helped implement it within ibm and also promoted its use in the software industry. Our 3day course engages every member of the development team. An inspection might also be referred to as a fagan inspection after michael fagan, the creator of a very popular software inspection process. Generic process and steps six steps of fagan inspection. Author a person that creates a product that should be inspected.
Fagan inspection defines a process as a certain activity with. In fagan s original proposals for inspections, he suggested roles such as author, reader, tester and moderator. The silver bullet noone wants to fire marilyn bush, chris gerrard, clifford shelley. This paper also addresses important issues related to the inspection process and examines experimental studies and their. Named after michael fagan, who is credited with being the inventor of formal software inspections. Software inspection is a method of static testing to verify that software meets its requirements. The fagan defect free process was invented by michaelfagan and is about getting skilled, trained observers to look at the item under inspection. It engages the developers and others in a formal process of investigation that usually detects more defects in the productand at.
Fagan inspection is a very structured and systematic way of finding errors in. It is a structured process that involves detecting defects in development documents like programming code, specifications, designs etc. Formal process definition is a method of defining the work process in terms that make it measurable and manageable by its users. Software inspection process input activity output planning activity organize inspections overview activity describe software work products.
Rethinking software development, testing and inspection michael fagan first found software inspections yielded a massive productivity improvement when working for ibm in the early 1970s. Two years ago i was not invited to a meeting with the cto of a billiondollar software development shop, but i didnt know that until i walked in the room. It is named after michael fagan, who is credited by whom. Since introducing the inspection process in 1974, ibm achieved significant improvements in quality. Fagan, who incorporated various software formal software inspection methods. Fagan inspections go one step further and requires a process. Heshe creates the inspection plan and plays the role of the coordinator of the whole working group. A typical formal inspection process if additional defects found, the inspection repeats.
Roles in the program inspection process program inspection is a formal process that is carried out by a team of at least four people. In every activity or operation for which entry and exit criteria are specified fagan inspections can be used to validate if the output of the process complies with the exit criteria specified for the process. Do you understand the purpose of inspections in general. For example, after inspection, the requirements definition is released for reference by the functional design specification. There are other less formal or strict approaches and each organization will have to determine the appropriate approach given their product, liability, and customer exceptions. Find all the defects in the work product that is examined, and find all the systemic defects in the process that created defects in the work product. Software defect phase containment accendo reliability. This is just a short video to tell you what is inspection in software engineering, not covering any details in this video. The company nearly doubled the number of lines of code shipped for system370 software products since 1976, while the number of defects per thousand lines of code was reduced by twothirds michael fagan.
Very high defect detection effectiveness the single most effective software quality control widely applicable to all documents developed, changed or acquired can be used early in development to requirements. Named after michael fagan, the creator of a popular software inspection process, software inspection is also known as fagan inspection. Followup mapping to generic inspection process in fig 14. In each instance, the new uses of inspection were found to improve product. This might be code, design documents, interface specifications, product requirements, or even advertising copy. Inspections are a formal process used to identify and correct errors in a completed deliverable, before the deliverable is used as input to a subsequent deliverable.
The main purpose of the software inspection is to detect errors in the available documentation. Michael fagan a history of software inspections inspections are now thirty years old and they continue to improve software quality and maintainability, reduce time to delivery, and lower development costs. This is an inspection technique named after michael fagan who developed it in the mid 1970s. Michael fagan created the fagan defectfree process of which fagan inspections are a key part to address these requirements. A history of software inspections michael fagan associates. Inspection roles, participants and process in testing. Fagan inspection steps, responsibilities and tasks. Not so strong on the data collection and process improvement aspects of fagan inspections, though. Describe what fagan inspections are, what s involved, and what s expected of inspectors and others. The software inspection process as it was defined by fagan involves the inter play of five elements. What is software inspection software engineering urdu. Fagan, member, ieee velopment and design and code inspections prompted the adaptation of the principles of the inspection process to inspections of requirements, user information, and docu mentation, and test plans and test cases.
Two wellknown methods are the fagan inspection methodology or the glib methodology. The fagandefectfreeprocess calls out a system for conducting inspections of code. The concept of finding defects as early as possible in the software development process to save time, effort and money seems intuitive in 2001. Created by michael fagan of ibm in 1972 typically referred to as fagan inspections adaptation of statistical quality control to. The wellknown fagan inspection process was developed at ibm in the 1970s, and it provides a rigorous approach to building quality into the software.
Software inspections were introduced in the 1970s at ibm, which pioneered their early adoption and later evolution. Software inspections and the cost effective production of reliable software. A fagan inspection is a process of trying to find defects in documents such as source code or formal specifications during various phases of the software development process. Fagan inspection defines a process as a certain activity with a prespecified entry and exit criteria. Every software testing company is aiming to create the end product of high quality. He provided us with training in the fagan inspection process which. In a typical fagan inspection the inspection process consists of the. Michael fagan was the person who first introduced the. Michael fagan associates continous process improvement. Fagan inspections are thoroughly discussed in software inspection by tom gilb and dorothy graham addisonwesley, 1993. This chapter discusses software inspections, which play an important role in building quality into a product.
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