Review

Conducting systematic reviews of work done.

Also Known As

Assessment
Audit
Code Review
Evaluation

Addresses / Mitigates

Implementation Risk: Ensures quality and correctness of work products.
Communication Risk: Maintains alignment with design principles and goals.
Complexity Risk: Identifies unnecessary complexity and communicates necessary complexity to the rest of the team.
Agency Risk: Reviewing work or activity can ensure good behaviour.
Internal Model Risk: Reviews and audits can uncover unseen problems in a system.
Reliability Risk: Reviews and audits can be performed to investigate the causes of unreliability in a system.

Attendant Risks

Schedule Risk: Reviews can introduce delays in the project timeline.
Coordination Risk: Synchronous reviews require effective coordination among team members.

Used By

Extreme Programming: XP includes regular reviews to assess progress and make necessary adjustments.
Scrum: Scrum includes regular reviews in the form of sprint reviews and retrospectives.

Description

"A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company such as a movie (a movie review), video game (video game review), musical composition (music review of a composition or recording), book (book review); a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, play, musical theater show, dance show, or art exhibition." - Review, Wikipedia

In software development, a review involves evaluating work products to ensure they meet required standards and specifications. Reviews are essential for maintaining quality, consistency, and alignment with project goals. By catching issues early, reviews prevent larger problems and facilitate knowledge sharing among team members.

Variations

Review Type	Description	Reference
Code Review	Systematic examination of source code to find and fix mistakes, improving overall software quality.	Code Review, Wikipedia
Design Review	Evaluation of system architecture and design decisions before implementation begins.	Design Review, Wikipedia
Security Audit	Focused review examining code or systems for security vulnerabilities and compliance issues.	Information Security Audit, Wikipedia
Architecture Review	High-level assessment of system structure, examining scalability, maintainability, and technical debt.	Software Architecture, Wikipedia

Used By

Extreme Programming

An Agile software development methodology that emphasizes customer satisfaction, teamwork, and frequent delivery of small, functional software increments.

Why: XP includes regular reviews to assess progress and make necessary adjustments.