Have you attended any review meetings?

Q: Have you attended any review meetings? A: Yes, in the last 10+ years I have attended many review meetings; mostly peer reviews. In today's corporate world, the vast majority of review meetings are peer review meetings. In my experience, the most useful peer reviews are the ones where you're the author of something. Why? Because when you're the author, then it's you who decides what to do and how, and it's you who receives all the free help. In my experience, on the long run, the inputs of your additional reviewers and additional attendees can be the most valuable to you and your company. But, in your own best interest, in order to expedite things, before every peer review it is a good idea to get together with the additional reviewer and additional attendee, and talk with them about issues, because if you don't, they will be the ones with the largest number of questions and usually negative feedback. When a PDR is done right, it is useful, beneficial, pleasant, and friendly. Generally speaking, the fewer people show up at the PDR, the easier it tends to be, and the earlier it can be adjourned. When you're an author, developer, or task lead, many times you can relax, because during your peer review your facilitator and test lead are unlikely to ask any tough questions from you. Why? Because, the facilitator is too busy taking notes, and the test lead is kind of bored (because he already asked his toughest questions *before* the PDR. When you're a facilitator, every PDR tends to be a pleasant experience. In my experience, one of the easiest review meetings are PDRs where you're the facilitator (whose only job is to call the shots and make notes).

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