When Developer's write code who looks at it?
Usually another Developer, at least for a review, and more importantly someone who is testing it.
When Tester's write a test who looks at it?
Uhm....I sometimes find that hard to answer.
Sure, we occasionally send out test plans and cases for review, but does it happen all the time? No. Are you sure everyone looks at it? No. Will comments come back? Not always. I do try to look at test plans that my group generates, I review it even if I think I will have no comments, though I can at least spot a grammar error or two if I look hard. But that's not really a technical review is it? That's kind of the point, where is the technical review?
I've seen this come up on occasion in blogs or posts, that someone writes a test tool and uses it, fixes it and makes sure that it does what its supposed to do then what? Maybe suggest to others that they use it when checking certain code or functionality, but has it been as strenuously reviewed as code for Production? I can honestly say for myself, that has not always been the case. But in a way to catch up and practice what I preach, I am spending more time getting reviews and following up with people, having reviews of tools we use in house done by other people, including Developers. Not only to make sure that things work right, and I can explain what is going on, but I can maybe find a better method of doing what I want by someone who spends more time coding than I do.
When was the last time you wrote out a spec for a tool you wrote? If it was complex enough, that is...I can honestly say 1 for all the tools I have made.
Let's face it, we sometimes take shortcuts as in the test environment its not perceived to be as necessary to have strenuous reviews of what we use because what we are using is not going into Production. What we are testing is! So why not have the same standards for the tools we use and write? Be just as critical as if you were going to buy such a tool from someone, and make sure you know what its doing and how. The more you understand and can talk about the tool you are using, the more secure you can be in that the tool is doing what its doing.
And yes, I say reviews are for QA as well as Development, because in the end, its all code.
