Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Three B-S of design reviews

I am in San Diego this week to be at the critical design review (CDR) of my main project. In a CDR, we present the software architecture, go over design decisions made, discus risk items and schedule. A CDR takes about 4 hours (when lucky), but they can get very long depending on the questions and side discussions. To keep CDRs within schedule, I picked up a great tip: the 3 B-S of design reviews
  1. Be Sincere - when you do not know the answer to a question, say so. Don't try to wing it or dance around it.
  2. Be Succinct - be short and clear in your answers.
  3. Be Seated - answer the question and close it. Don't linger, or leave answers half open. It is just an invitation for others to put in their 2 cents, a comment or open a can of worms.