Software development supervision

The aim of software development supervision (inspection) is to provide the customer with objective assessments, recommendations and overviews on regular basis in both development methodology and progress wise. In addition to regular reports the inspector is always ready to give the customer an overview on the state of the project and problems. Based on the recommendations and feed back from the inspector the customer has always more information to take appropriate steps and decisions to ensure the success of the project.

The general supervision (inspection) process involves the cooperation of three parties - customer, developer and inspector. In order the inspection to be successful and efficient the roles in general of the parties are as follows:

Inspector inspects, assesses, reports and recommends focusing on the aspects of quality, methodology and progress of the development.
Customer makes decisions based on the information collected by the customer itself and on the information collected by the inspector.
Developer complies.

The substantial work of the inspector usually begins at the development phase of the project right after the inception phase ends. On the other hand the inspector needs to familiarize himself with the documentation produced during the inception phase (preliminary analysis, project plan, test plan, conceptual architecture etc) and therefore it might be more efficient when the inspector gets involved in the inception phase helping to prepare and assess different documents (development plan, invitation to tender, evaluation of tenders etc.)

During development phase the inspector's main tasks are as follows.

Active participation in the early stages of the project - defining methods, metrics and expected results:
- Assess selected development methodology.
- Assess and review the project plan.
- Assess and review the list of different deliveries (documentation, code etc)
- Assess and review the test plan.
Participating in the project meetings - evaluation of progress and problems. Consultation.
Participating in the project management group meetings - deliver assessments, reports, overviews, recommendations.
Regularly check the correct usage of the selected development methods.
Verify and validate different deliveries (documentation, system components etc) against requirements.
Monitor the project process (based on the info collected from the regular meetings and checks). Report progress and problems weekly both orally and in writing (the frequency of written reports will be agreed on at the start of the project).