Effective preparation for design review - Using UML arrow checklist leveraged on the gurus' knowledge

The process of design construction and design review is notorious in its endless debates and discussions. Sometimes, these "gurus' style" debates are triggered by simple mistakes that could have been easily avoided. Precious time is lost, both because of the designer's lack of experience and the reviewer's overconfidence. If both sides were effectively prepared and armed with the same ammunition of knowledge, the "balance of terror" would reduce the will to argue and focus would be maintained. Reinforcing the abilities to face the intimidating guru's knowledge can be by formal encapsulation of that knowledge and systematic gurus' guidance to the design steps. This paper presents a methodology that captures the recommended selection of entities' relationships using UML notation. The UML arrow methodology is comprised of a checklist, which provides immediate yes/no feedback to simple guiding questions and a governing iterative process. The consolidated questions encompass best practice design methodologies, composed, edited and corroborated by the company's experienced designers. It contains a common process based on capturing the gurus' recommendations according to the company's specific needs. The methodology was evaluated in practitioners' workshops as well as practical design sessions, based on data received through questionnaires. The results obtained from 62 participants reveal that (1) usage of this methodology led to effective identification of inappropriate entities' relationships; (2) shortened the design review duration; (3) removed redundant technical remarks; (4) improved the preparation stages as well as brainstorming sessions, and (4) overall maintained a focused discussions regarding the problem.