Technical peer review

In engineering, technical peer review is a type of engineering review. Technical peer reviews are a well defined review process for finding and fixing defects, conducted by a team of peers with assigned roles. Technical peer reviews are carried out by peers representing areas of life cycle affected by material being reviewed (usually limited to 6 or fewer people). Technical peer reviews are held within development phases, between milestone reviews, on completed products or completed portions of products.

A technical peer review may also be called a engineering peer review, a product peer review, a peer review/inspection or an inspection.

The purpose of technical peer reviews is to remove defects as early as possible in the development process. By removing defects at their origin (e.g., requirements and design documents, test plans and procedures, software code, etc.), technical peer reviews prevent defects from propagating through multiple phases and work products, and reduce the overall amount of rework necessary on projects.

In addition, improved team efficiency is a side effect of technical peer reviews (e.g., by improving team communication, integrating the viewpoints of various engineering specialty disciplines, more quickly bringing new members up to speed, and educating project members about effective development practices).

In CMMI, peer reviews are used as a principal means of verification in the Verification process area and as an objective evaluation method in the Process and Product Quality Assurance process area. The results of technical peer reviews can be reported at milestone reviews. (See Milestone (project management).)

Responsible for conducting the technical peer review process and collecting inspection data. Plays key role in all stages of the technical peer review process except rework. Required to perform several duties during a technical peer review in addition to inspector’s tasks.

Responsible for finding defects in work product from a general point of view, as well as defects that affect their area of expertise.

Provides information about work product during all stages of process. Responsible for correcting all major defects and any minor and trivial defects that cost and schedule permit. Performs duties of an inspector.

Guides team through work product during the technical peer review meeting. Reads or paraphrases work product in detail. Performs duties of an inspector in addition to reader’s role.

Accurately records each defect found during inspection meeting on the Inspection Defect List. Performs duties of an inspector in addition to recorder’s role.

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Wikipedia