Quality Assurance in Requirements Management - Requirements Engineering and Management for Software Development Projects - page 96

6.2.5 Project Postmortem
Normally organizations are focused on delivering results and completing projects
rather than on analyzing the past performance. If a project is successfully com-
pleted, it is argued that, its performance is acceptable. But the real efficacy of
project performance can be gauged realistically only when the project postmortem
is diligently conducted. Project postmortem looks at the project performance from
all angles in a critical manner to uncover best practices and pitfalls experienced
during the project execution. This will add significant value to the organizational
knowledge base and to the individual competence.
6.3 Verification
Verification is ensuring that the ''right thing is done''. It does not involve powering
up/running the product and testing its functionality. Verification does not involve
any tests to ensure that the right thing is accomplished. Verification is carried out
visually and perhaps through touch and feel. IEEE standard 610 for ''Standard
Glossary for Software Engineering Terminology'' defines the term ''verification''
as ''the process of evaluating a system or component to determine whether the
products of a given development phase satisfy the conditions imposed at the start
of the phase'' and also as ''formal proof of program correctness''. CMMI model
document defines the term ''verification'' as ''confirmation that work products
properly reflect the requirements specified for them. In other words, verification
ensures that 'you built it right'.''
One thing is common in all these definitions—it does not involve ensuring the
achievement of functionality by testing the product.
When we consider the case of requirements engineering, we do not have a
product yet. So the question of testing the functionality does not arise. We have
two types of verification that can be used in carrying out quality control of
requirements. These are:
1. Peer review
a. Independent review
i. Individual review
ii. Group review
b. Guided review
i. Individual review
ii. Group review