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Why Isn't Everyone Making Use of Software Inspections?
Software inspections are able to provide significant benefits to any project, but yet the adoption of the inspection process has been very slow. Surely understanding the benefits of the inspection process any developer would want to be making use of the method, yet it seems not.
Data was published over 2 decades ago that prove the absolute effectiveness of the software inspection process and the most recent reports seem to back up this data, so why is it inspections have not cemented their place in code review and been involved in much wider use?
There is a common misconception that software inspections can only be done one way and lack any real diversity. Another aspect that stops developers undertaking the inspection process is the fact that many believe it is not easy to do well. There are many factors including both social and psychological that goes into the mix to create a fear towards the inspection process. Management very often see software inspection as an added cost, when in actual fact inspections help to reduce costs during a work product process. There is much evidence available to suggest that inspections are very cost efficient and do more to enhance a campaign in comparison to a normal review.
Ever since inspections came into play they have diminished in popularity due to the advent of new development tools or languages, this causes both the providers and users to question the value inspections carry, some even believing they have become less necessary. One question that needs to be asked is, how can this be true when programmers are still making defects and errors regardless of the new tools and languages? The problem is there is little written evidence to suggest inspections work in these new and changing times, so choosing to opt out of implementing software inspections must simply be based on myth.
Taking all the above factors into account it is easy to see why corners are being cut in the software inspection process without any real evidence to suggest these shortcuts are in fact improvements. Some of these new and evolving changes have caused the inspection process to become less and less effective. Inspections are definitely no the most exciting aspect of engineering in comparison to design and programming, however they still offer massive value. They may be low tech and need intensive laboring but the fact is they still work.
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