Peer Desk Check
Peer Desk Check and Peer Review are mechanisms used in the business analysis domain to ensure the quality and accuracy of requirements, analysis models, business rules, and other forms of product information. These review processes serve to validate the deliverables for compliance with organizational standards and universally accepted principles of writing requirements.
Peer Desk Check
Peer Desk Check is an informal review approach where one or more peers review the materials simultaneously. This approach is particularly useful for validating any logic inherent in the requirements or analysis models. During a desk check, a peer reviewer systematically walks through an analysis model or set of requirements to identify any inconsistencies, errors, or logical flaws. They may work through examples to check the logic within the deliverables. This is akin to a developer debugging code and is valuable for scrutinizing the logic encapsulated in a set of business rules.
Peer Review
On the other hand, Peer Reviews can be either formal or informal and are conducted at various stages during the requirements process. Participants in the review often include other business analysts, managers, or members from the Business Analysis Center of Excellence. Quality assurance and testing resources also often participate as they provide a valuable perspective on testability, completeness, and consistency of the requirements.
Informal peer reviews may occur prior to a more formal requirements review meeting with business stakeholders. This ensures that any glaring errors that could disrupt the formal review are addressed beforehand. Post-stakeholder review sessions may also be conducted to ensure that the final set of requirements is universally understood and accepted by the solution and development teams.
The execution of a peer review is straightforward. All reviewers are provided with a copy of the document for pre-review. During the review session, issues or problems are collaboratively discussed and addressed. Screen-sharing technology can be leveraged to make real-time changes to the document, ensuring a more efficient resolution of identified issues. In instances where a formal session isn't conducted, the document can be distributed electronically with reviewers asked to track their changes. Various features in requirements management tools can also be used to log comments and suggestions.
Collaboration Point
Inviting testers and those responsible for developing training manuals to the verification review can be beneficial. Their early involvement provides them with the necessary project background and context. This ensures a more detailed and focused review, particularly in terms of the consistency, completeness, and testability of the requirements, thereby adding value to the verification process.