3.2 Review Process

Reviews vary from informal to formal. Informal reviews are characterized by not following a defined process and not having formal documented output. Formal reviews are characterized by team participation, documented results of the review, and documented procedures for conducting the review. The formality of a review process is related to factors such as the software development lifecycle model, the maturity of the development process, the complexity of the work product to be reviewed, any legal or regulatory requirements, and/or the need for an audit trail.

The focus of a review depends on the agreed objectives of the review (e.g., finding defects, gaining understanding, educating participants such as testers and new team members, or discussing and deciding by consensus).

ISO standard (ISO/IEC 20246) contains more in-depth descriptions of the review process for work products, including roles and review techniques.