In-process inspections of workproducts at AT&T

In-process inspections are examination meetings held to find defects in design and development workproducts, including intermediate versions of the product or system in requirements and design documents. Because these inspections delimit the phases of design and development processes, they can prevent the passage of defects from one phase to the next and significantly reduce the number of defects released to customers. Software development projects within AT&T's research and development community have been using in-process inspections effectively for several years to reduce defects, and hardware projects began using them one and a half years ago. In addition, the experience of installing in-process inspections in project organizations has yielded a wealth of information on technology transfer. This article defines inspections, describes the installation process, and discusses some uses for inspection data.