An empirical comparison between pair development and software inspection in Thailand

Abstract

Although pair programming and software inspection have the common aim of minimizing the defects of the software product, each practice has its strengths and weaknesses. We need to understand their costs and benefits under given conditions to be able to select a practice to execute in a development project. The objective of this study is to compare the commonalities and differences between pair development and software inspection as verification techniques in Thailand. One classroom experiment and one industry experiment were conducted. The development effort and effect of quality were investigated with some additional calendar time comparisons. The classroom results showed that average development effort of the pair development group was 24% less than inspection group with the improved product quality. The industry experiment showed pair development to have about 4% more effort but about 40% fewer major defects. In addition, the impacts of cultural differences to the adoption of pair programming or software inspection in Thailand are discussed.