Inspection of software detailed design and code was first proposed by Michael Fagan in his paper entitled "
Design and Code Inspections to Reduce Errors in Program Development". It can account for as many as 82% of all errors found in software. Inspection is much better than testing for finding errors. Define criteria for completing an inspection. Keep track of the types of errors found through inspection. Fagan's inspections consume approximately 15% of development resources with a net reduction in total development cost of 25 to 30%.
Your original project schedule should account for the time to inspect and correct every component. You might think that
your project cannot tolerate such "luxuries." However, you should not consider inspection a luxury. Data has shown that you can even reduce the time to test by 50 to 90%. If that's not incentive, I don't know what could be. By the way, there is a wealth of support data and tips on how to do inspections well in
Key Lessons in Achieving Widespread Inspection Use.
