Software Inspections: An Effective Verification Process

Research into Code Inspection
Papers, Presentations and Books

Journal Paper: Cover of IEEE Software

A. Frank Ackerman, Lynne S. Buchwald, and Frank H. Lewski
Recorded 1989 in IEEE Software , 6, no. 3, May
Pages 31-36
Abstract:
The authors explain how to perform software inspections to locate defects. They present metrics for inspection and examples of its effectiveness. The authors contend, on the basis of their experiences and those reported in the literature, that inspections can detect and eliminate faults more cheaply than testing.
Link:
Software Inspections: An Effective Verification Process

Findings relevant to IfSQ Standards:

Inspection is 80% faster than testing
Code reading detected about 80% more faults per hour than testing
Find design defects 6 times faster
Detection of design defects costs 6 times more using testing than by using inspections
Inspection 4 to 7 times faster than testing
The average cost of finding an error using code inspections is 3.5 staff hours compared to 15-25 hours to find each error through testing