Assignment 3

1) Explain 4 P’s (Management Spectrum) of Effective Project Management in detail.

The “4 Ps” in project management, while not a universally standardized framework like the PMBOK Guide’s knowledge areas, often represent a practical and intuitive approach to effective project management. These Ps often refer to People, Process, Product, and Project. Let’s break them down:

1. People: This aspect focuses on the human element crucial to project success. It encompasses several key considerations:

Team Selection and Management: Identifying and assembling a team with the right skills, experience, and personalities is critical. Effective team management involves clear communication, conflict resolution, motivation, and delegation. This includes understanding individual strengths and weaknesses and assigning tasks accordingly. Leadership style plays a significant role here – adapting to the team’s needs and fostering collaboration.
Stakeholder Management: Projects rarely exist in isolation. Effective project management necessitates identifying all stakeholders (clients, sponsors, users, team members, etc.), understanding their needs and expectations, and managing their communication and engagement throughout the project lifecycle. This often involves proactive communication, regular updates, and addressing concerns promptly.
Training and Development: Equipping the team with the necessary skills and knowledge is essential. This might involve providing training on specific tools, techniques, or methodologies relevant to the project. Continuous learning and development can boost morale and enhance project outcomes.
Motivation and Recognition: Keeping the team motivated and engaged throughout the project is vital. Recognizing and rewarding contributions fosters a positive and productive work environment. This can involve celebrating milestones, providing constructive feedback, and offering opportunities for growth.

2. Process: This element focuses on the structured approach and methodology employed to execute the project.

Planning: A well-defined project plan is the cornerstone of successful execution. This includes defining clear objectives, setting realistic timelines, allocating resources, identifying risks, and establishing communication channels. Using appropriate project management methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, etc.) is crucial here.
Execution: This involves putting the plan into action, managing tasks, tracking progress, and making necessary adjustments along the way. Regular monitoring and control are key to ensuring the project stays on track.
Monitoring and Control: Continuously monitoring progress against the plan allows for early identification of deviations. This enables proactive intervention to mitigate risks and keep the project on schedule and within budget. Tools like Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and progress reports are commonly used.
Quality Control: Implementing quality control measures throughout the project ensures the final product meets the specified requirements and standards. This often involves regular reviews, testing, and feedback loops.

3. Product: This centers on the deliverables and outcomes of the project.

Requirements Gathering: Clearly defining the project’s objectives and deliverables is paramount. This involves thorough requirements gathering, ensuring everyone understands what needs to be produced.
Design and Development: This phase involves creating the actual product or service. This requires careful planning, execution, and adherence to established standards.
Testing and Validation: Rigorous testing is crucial to ensure the product meets the specified requirements and functions as intended. This may involve unit testing, integration testing, and user acceptance testing.
Delivery and Deployment: Successfully delivering the finished product to the client or end-user is the ultimate goal. This involves careful planning and coordination to ensure a smooth transition.

4. Project: This encompasses the overall management of the project as a whole, bringing together the other three Ps.

Scope Management: Clearly defining and controlling the project’s scope prevents scope creep (uncontrolled expansion of project requirements). This involves establishing a clear baseline and managing any changes through a formal change management process.
Risk Management: Identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential risks is essential for project success. This involves developing a risk register and implementing strategies to reduce the likelihood and impact of identified risks.
Budget Management: Effective budget management involves planning, tracking, and controlling project expenditures. This requires accurate cost estimation and regular monitoring of actual costs against the budget.
Communication Management: Establishing and maintaining clear communication channels throughout the project is critical for success. This involves regular updates, meetings, and reporting to keep stakeholders informed.

In essence, effective project management requires a balanced approach across these four Ps. Ignoring any one of them can jeopardize the success of the entire project. The relative importance of each P might vary depending on the specific project, but all are fundamentally interconnected and crucial for achieving desired outcomes.

2) Describe the concept of Product metrics, Process metrics and Project metrics.

Product, process, and project metrics are all crucial for evaluating the success of a software development effort, but they focus on different aspects:

1. Product Metrics: These metrics measure the quality and performance of the finished product itself. They focus on how well the product meets the needs and expectations of the users. Examples include:

Usability: Task completion rate, error rate, user satisfaction scores (e.g., Net Promoter Score, System Usability Scale), time on task. These measure how easy and enjoyable the product is to use.
Reliability: Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), crash rate, error rate. These indicate how often the product functions correctly without failure.
Performance: Response time, throughput, resource utilization (CPU, memory). These measure how efficiently and quickly the product performs its functions.
Security: Number of security vulnerabilities discovered, time to patch vulnerabilities. These measure the product’s resistance to unauthorized access or damage.
Feature completeness: Percentage of planned features implemented, number of bugs fixed. Measures how much of the planned functionality is delivered.
Customer satisfaction: Customer ratings, reviews, support tickets. These reflect overall user happiness with the product.

2. Process Metrics: These metrics measure the efficiency and effectiveness of the development process itself. They help identify bottlenecks, areas for improvement, and overall team performance. Examples include:

Velocity: The amount of work completed in a sprint (Agile) or a given time period (Waterfall).
Cycle time: The time it takes to complete a single task or user story.
Defect density: The number of defects found per lines of code.
Lead time: The time it takes for a change request to go from idea to production.
Code churn: The rate at which code is modified or rewritten.
Deployment frequency: How often the software is released to production.
Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR): How long it takes to recover from a failure.

3. Project Metrics: These metrics track the progress and overall success of the project against its goals and constraints. They focus on on-time and on-budget delivery. Examples include:

Schedule adherence: Percentage of tasks completed on time.
Budget adherence: Actual cost versus planned cost.
Resource utilization: How effectively resources (people, tools, budget) are being used.
Risk management: Number and severity of identified risks, effectiveness of mitigation strategies.
Project completion rate: Percentage of project milestones achieved.
Return on Investment (ROI): The overall financial benefit of the project.

The key difference is the focus: Product metrics assess the outcome, process metrics assess the how, and project metrics assess the delivery. Effective software development uses all three types of metrics in a coordinated way to improve quality, efficiency, and overall success. The specific metrics used will vary depending on the project, the development methodology, and the organization’s goals.

3) Explain Software Project management and W5HH principle.

Software Project Management

Software project management is the application of project management principles and techniques to the development, maintenance, and evolution of software systems. It involves planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources to achieve specific software development goals within defined time, cost, and quality constraints. Effective software project management is crucial because software projects are often complex, involving diverse teams, intricate technologies, and evolving requirements.

Key aspects of software project management include:

Planning: Defining project scope, objectives, deliverables, timelines, and resources. This includes creating a detailed project plan with milestones and tasks.
Organizing: Establishing the project team structure, roles, responsibilities, and communication channels.
Staffing: Selecting and assigning the right people with the necessary skills and experience.
Directing and Controlling: Monitoring progress, managing risks, resolving conflicts, and making necessary adjustments to keep the project on track.
Monitoring and Reporting: Tracking progress against the plan, identifying deviations, and reporting to stakeholders.
Risk Management: Identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential risks that could impact the project’s success.
Quality Assurance: Ensuring that the software meets the required quality standards.
Change Management: Handling changes in requirements, scope, or other project aspects efficiently.

W5HH Principle in Project Management

The W5HH principle is a mnemonic device used to ensure comprehensive planning and communication in any project, including software projects. It stands for:

What: What needs to be done? This defines the project’s scope, goals, and deliverables. In software, this would encompass features, functionalities, and the overall system architecture.
Why: Why is this project necessary? This clarifies the project’s objectives and its business value. It justifies the investment and helps maintain focus.
Who: Who is involved in the project? This includes defining roles, responsibilities, team members, stakeholders, and their involvement.
When: When will the project start and end? This sets clear deadlines and milestones, facilitating progress tracking.
Where: Where will the project take place? This refers to both physical locations (offices, remote work) and the project’s environment (development tools, platforms).
How: How will the project be executed? This outlines the methodology (Agile, Waterfall, etc.), processes, tools, and techniques used.
How much: How much will the project cost? This involves budgeting, resource allocation, and cost tracking.

By systematically addressing these questions, project managers can ensure that everyone involved understands the project’s purpose, scope, and execution plan, leading to better communication, collaboration, and ultimately, project success. The W5HH principle aids in creating a clear and comprehensive project plan, minimizing misunderstandings and improving overall project management.

4) Explain COCOMO Model and its types for project estimation with suitable example.

The Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) is a procedural software cost estimation model. It’s used to predict the effort and time required to develop a software project based on various factors like project size, experience of the development team, and the complexity of the software. COCOMO comes in three different forms, each with increasing levels of detail and accuracy:

1. Basic COCOMO:

Purpose: Provides a rapid, initial estimate of the project effort and development time. It’s a simple model suitable for early stages of project planning where precise details are not yet available.
Equation: The basic COCOMO model uses a single equation to estimate the effort (E) in person-months:

E = a * (KLOC)^b

Where:
- E is the effort in person-months.
- KLOC is the estimated size of the software in thousands of lines of code (Kilo Lines Of Code).
- a and b are constants that depend on the type of project:
  - For Organic projects (small, well-understood, with experienced developers): a = 2.4, b = 1.05
  - For Semi-detached projects (medium size, some new features, moderate experience): a = 3.0, b = 1.12
  - For Embedded projects (large, complex, with novel features and inexperienced team): a = 3.6, b = 1.20
Example: Let’s say we’re developing a small, well-understood application (organic) estimated to be 50 KLOC. Using the Basic COCOMO model:

E = 2.4 * (50)^1.05 ≈ 118.8 person-months

This suggests the project will require approximately 119 person-months of effort.

2. Intermediate COCOMO:

Purpose: Provides a more accurate estimate than Basic COCOMO by considering various attributes of the software and the development environment. It refines the basic model by incorporating “cost drivers.”
Equation: The Intermediate COCOMO model extends the basic equation by incorporating a multiplicative factor based on 15 cost drivers, each rated on a scale (e.g., very low, low, nominal, high, very high, extra high). These drivers encompass factors like:
- Product attributes (e.g., required reliability, database size)
- Hardware attributes (e.g., execution time constraints, main storage constraint)
- Personnel attributes (e.g., programmer capability, analyst capability, experience)
- Project attributes (e.g., modern programming practices, use of modern tools, use of modern languages)
Equation: E = a * (KLOC)^b * EAF

Where:
- EAF is the Effort Adjustment Factor, calculated as a product of the rating values for each of the 15 cost drivers. A rating scale is provided for each cost driver, which is then multiplied to give the EAF.
Example: If the EAF for our 50 KLOC organic project (from the Basic COCOMO example) is calculated to be 1.2 (due to factors like the use of a new technology and less experienced developers), the Intermediate COCOMO equation becomes:

E = 2.4 * (50)^1.05 * 1.2 ≈ 142.6 person-months.

This revised estimate shows that considering the cost drivers increases the effort required significantly.

3. Detailed COCOMO:

Purpose: The most comprehensive COCOMO model. It provides the most accurate estimate but requires a significant amount of detailed data and understanding of the project.
Approach: It breaks the software development process into different phases (requirements, design, coding, testing) and applies separate effort estimations for each phase. It accounts for the cost drivers on a phase-by-phase basis. This detailed approach uses multiple regression equations for precise estimation.

In summary:

Basic COCOMO is quick and easy but less accurate. Intermediate COCOMO improves accuracy by adding cost drivers. Detailed COCOMO is the most accurate but requires the most input data. The choice of which COCOMO model to use depends on the stage of the project and the level of detail available. Early in the project lifecycle, Basic or Intermediate COCOMO might suffice, while later, when more information is available, Detailed COCOMO can be employed.

5) Write a Short note on FP (Function Point Analysis) and LOC (Line of Code).

FP (Function Point Analysis) vs. LOC (Lines of Code)

Both Function Point Analysis (FP) and Lines of Code (LOC) are software estimation techniques used to measure the size of a software project, but they differ significantly in their approach and the resulting metrics.

Lines of Code (LOC):

Definition: LOC simply counts the number of lines in a program’s source code. Variations exist (e.g., counting only executable lines, ignoring comments and blank lines).
Advantages: Simple to understand and measure; readily available from source code.
Disadvantages: Highly language-dependent; doesn’t reflect functionality; prone to manipulation (e.g., code obfuscation affects LOC but not functionality). It’s a poor indicator of complexity or maintainability. It fails to account for differences in programming paradigms (a compact functional program might have fewer LOC than a verbose imperative one, despite equivalent functionality).

Function Point Analysis (FP):

Definition: FP is a technique that measures the functionality delivered by a software system from a user’s perspective. It counts functional components like inputs, outputs, inquiries, internal logical files, and external interface files, weighted according to their complexity. These counts are then aggregated to determine the total number of function points.
Advantages: Language-independent; focuses on functionality, providing a more accurate measure of software size; less prone to manipulation than LOC. Offers a more consistent measure across different development projects and teams.
Disadvantages: More complex and time-consuming to perform than LOC; requires skilled analysts to accurately assess functional complexity; relies on subjective judgment in classifying functional components.

In summary: While LOC provides a quick, albeit crude, measure of software size, FP offers a more robust and meaningful measure of functional size, making it preferable for project estimation, effort prediction, and productivity measurement, especially in large and complex projects. FP is less susceptible to coding style variations and focuses on the value delivered to the user rather than the implementation details.

6) Describe various types of Software Project Planning tools for project scheduling and tracking. (Work Breakdown Structure/PERT/Gantt Chart/ CPM)

Several tools aid in software project planning, scheduling, and tracking. They offer different approaches to visualizing and managing the project lifecycle. Here’s a breakdown of some key methods:

1. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):

Description: WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of a project into smaller, more manageable components. It’s a deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements. The top level represents the entire project, which is then broken down into major deliverables, sub-deliverables, and eventually individual tasks. It’s not a scheduling tool itself, but a crucial foundation for creating a schedule.
Purpose: Provides a clear and comprehensive overview of the project scope, clarifies responsibilities, and facilitates better estimation and control.
Example: Developing a mobile app might be broken down into: (1) Design, (2) Development (including front-end, back-end, and database), (3) Testing, (4) Deployment. Each of these would then be further broken down.
Tools: Often created using mind-mapping software, spreadsheets, or dedicated project management software.

2. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT):

Description: PERT is a network-based scheduling technique that uses a probabilistic approach to estimate project duration. It considers three time estimates for each task: optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely. These are used to calculate the expected time and variance for each task, allowing for uncertainty in task durations.
Purpose: Provides a visual representation of task dependencies, identifies critical path (the longest sequence of tasks determining the shortest project duration), and helps manage project risk by considering uncertainty.
Example: Shows how delays in one task might impact the overall project schedule, identifying areas needing more attention.
Tools: Specialized project management software, spreadsheets (with added calculations).

3. Gantt Chart:

Description: A Gantt chart is a bar chart that illustrates the schedule of a project. It shows tasks on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. The length of each bar represents the task duration, and the position shows the scheduled start and finish times. Dependencies between tasks are visually represented.
Purpose: Provides a clear and concise visual representation of the project schedule, easily showing task progress, overlaps, and critical path. Excellent for communication and monitoring progress.
Example: Clearly displays which tasks are happening concurrently, which are sequential, and highlights any delays.
Tools: Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Asana, Jira, and many other project management tools.

4. Critical Path Method (CPM):

Description: CPM is a deterministic scheduling technique. Unlike PERT, it assumes a single, fixed duration for each task. It focuses on identifying the critical path – the sequence of tasks that determine the shortest possible project duration. Any delay on the critical path directly impacts the overall project completion time.
Purpose: Determine the shortest possible project duration, identify critical tasks requiring close monitoring, and optimize resource allocation.
Example: Highlights which tasks are crucial for on-time project delivery, allowing for focused management efforts.
Tools: Often integrated within Gantt chart software or dedicated project management software.

Relationship between the tools:

These tools are often used together. A WBS provides the foundation, PERT or CPM helps determine the schedule, and a Gantt chart visually represents and tracks the schedule. Modern project management software usually integrates all these functionalities. Choosing the right combination depends on the project’s complexity, risk profile, and team preferences.

7) What do you mean by Risk Analysis? Explain RMMM.

Risk analysis is the systematic process of identifying, analyzing, and evaluating potential risks that could affect a project, business, or other undertaking. It involves determining the likelihood and potential impact of each risk, enabling informed decision-making and proactive mitigation strategies. The goal is not to eliminate all risk (which is often impossible), but to understand and manage it effectively, minimizing its negative consequences and maximizing opportunities.

The process typically involves these steps:

Risk Identification: Identifying all potential threats and opportunities. This might involve brainstorming, checklists, SWOT analysis, and reviewing past experiences.
Risk Assessment: Analyzing the identified risks to determine their likelihood (probability) and potential impact (severity). This often uses qualitative (e.g., high, medium, low) or quantitative (e.g., percentage chance, monetary value) methods.
Risk Evaluation: Prioritizing risks based on their likelihood and impact. This helps focus resources on the most critical risks.
Risk Response Planning: Developing strategies to address the identified risks. This might include avoidance, mitigation, transference, or acceptance.

RMMM: Risk Management and Mitigation Matrix

RMMM, or sometimes just RMM (Risk Management Matrix/Mitigation), is a tool used within risk analysis to visually represent and manage identified risks. It’s a table that typically lists each risk, its likelihood, its impact, the response strategy, and who is responsible for implementing that strategy. The matrix helps organize and prioritize risks, making it easier to track progress and ensure that appropriate actions are taken.

A typical RMMM includes columns such as:

Risk ID: A unique identifier for each risk.
Risk Description: A clear and concise description of the risk.
Likelihood: The probability of the risk occurring (e.g., High, Medium, Low, or a percentage).
Impact: The potential consequences if the risk occurs (e.g., High, Medium, Low, or a monetary value).
Risk Score/Rating: A calculated score based on likelihood and impact (often a multiplication of the two). This helps prioritize risks.
Response Strategy: The chosen approach to manage the risk (Avoid, Mitigate, Transfer, Accept).
Mitigation Actions: Specific steps to be taken to reduce the likelihood or impact of the risk.
Owner/Responsible Party: The individual or team responsible for implementing the mitigation actions.
Status: The current status of the risk management actions (e.g., Planned, In Progress, Completed).
Contingency Plan: A backup plan in case the primary mitigation strategy fails.

By using an RMMM, organizations can:

Centralize risk information: Provides a single source of truth for all identified risks.
Prioritize effectively: Focuses efforts on the most critical risks.
Track progress: Monitors the effectiveness of mitigation strategies.
Improve communication: Keeps stakeholders informed about risk status and actions.
Increase accountability: Clearly assigns responsibility for risk management.

RMMM is a flexible tool and the specific columns can be adapted to suit the needs of a particular project or organization.

8) Define Risk Identification,Risk Projection and Risk Refinement.

Let’s define each of these risk management concepts:

8) Risk Identification:

Risk identification is the systematic process of discovering and documenting potential hazards, vulnerabilities, and threats that could negatively impact a project, organization, or system. This involves brainstorming, reviewing historical data, analyzing processes, interviewing stakeholders, and using checklists or other tools to uncover a comprehensive list of potential risks. The goal is to create a comprehensive inventory of potential risks, regardless of their likelihood or impact at this stage. The output is typically a list of identified risks, often with a brief description of each.

8) Risk Projection (or Risk Assessment):

Risk projection, often used interchangeably with risk assessment, follows risk identification. It involves analyzing the identified risks to determine their potential impact and likelihood of occurrence. This typically involves qualitative and/or quantitative methods.

Qualitative methods use subjective judgment and scales (e.g., high, medium, low) to assess impact and likelihood. This might involve expert opinions or questionnaires.
Quantitative methods use numerical data to estimate the probability and potential financial or other consequences of a risk. This might involve statistical analysis, simulations, or data modeling.

The output of risk projection is a prioritized list of risks, ranked based on their potential impact and likelihood. This helps to focus resources on the most significant risks.

8) Risk Refinement:

Risk refinement is an iterative process of improving the accuracy and detail of the identified and assessed risks. It occurs after the initial risk identification and projection. Refinement involves:

Gathering more information: This could involve further investigation, data analysis, or consultation with experts to gain a deeper understanding of specific risks.
Updating risk assessments: As new information becomes available, or as the project progresses, the likelihood and impact of risks may change. Risk refinement involves updating the risk assessments to reflect these changes.
Breaking down complex risks: Large, complex risks are often broken down into smaller, more manageable components to facilitate better analysis and mitigation planning.
Combining or eliminating risks: Similar risks might be combined, while insignificant risks might be eliminated from further consideration.
Improving risk descriptions: Ensuring that risk descriptions are clear, concise, and unambiguous.

Risk refinement is a continuous process that occurs throughout the lifecycle of a project or system, ensuring that the risk management plan remains relevant and effective. The goal is to maintain an accurate and up-to-date understanding of the risks and their potential consequences.

9) Differentiate Quality Assurance Vs Quality Control.

Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) are both crucial for ensuring a product or service meets required standards, but they differ significantly in their approach and focus:

Quality Assurance (QA):

Focus: Prevention. QA aims to prevent defects from occurring in the first place. It’s a proactive process focusing on the process of producing a product or service.
Methods: Includes establishing processes, procedures, and standards; training employees; regular audits; risk assessments; and continuous improvement initiatives. It’s about building quality into the system.
Scope: Broader than QC. It covers the entire lifecycle of a product or service, from design and development to delivery and beyond.
Responsibility: Often a cross-functional team or department with responsibilities spanning the entire organization.
Output: Improved processes, reduced defects, increased customer satisfaction, and a consistent level of quality. It aims to improve the capability of the system.
Example: Establishing a documented software development process with regular code reviews and testing at each stage. Implementing a system for tracking customer feedback and using it to improve future products.

Quality Control (QC):

Focus: Detection. QC aims to identify and correct defects after they have occurred. It’s a reactive process focusing on the product or service itself.
Methods: Includes inspections, testing, audits, and other verification activities to ensure the product or service meets specifications. It’s about checking the quality of the output.
Scope: Narrower than QA. It focuses on individual products or services and specific aspects of the process.
Responsibility: Usually a dedicated QC team or individual responsible for inspecting finished products or services.
Output: Identification of defects, rejection of non-conforming products, and correction of identified issues. It aims to ensure conformance to requirements.
Example: Testing a batch of manufactured goods for defects before shipping them to customers. Inspecting completed software code for bugs before release.

In short: QA is about doing the right things, while QC is about doing things right. They are complementary and work best when implemented together. A strong QA process minimizes the need for extensive QC, resulting in greater efficiency and reduced costs.

10) What is Software Reviews? Explain its types.

Software reviews are critical evaluations of software applications, systems, or components. They assess various aspects of the software to determine its quality, usability, functionality, security, and overall value. These reviews are used by developers, businesses, and individual users to make informed decisions about software selection, development, and improvement.

Types of Software Reviews:

Software reviews can be categorized in several ways, depending on their purpose and methodology. Here are some common types:

1. Based on the Review Stage:

Formal Reviews: These are structured and planned reviews involving a team of reviewers, a defined process, and documented findings. Examples include:
- Inspections: A meticulous, line-by-line examination of the code or documentation, focusing on adherence to standards and detecting defects.
- Walkthroughs: A less formal review where the author guides the team through the code or documentation, explaining the logic and design.
- Technical Reviews: A broader review covering aspects like design, architecture, performance, security, and usability.
Informal Reviews: These are less structured and often spontaneous, such as quick code checks by a colleague or a brief discussion about a feature. They are valuable for catching minor issues early but lack the rigor of formal reviews.

2. Based on the Review Purpose:

Usability Reviews: Focus on the ease of use and user experience, assessing factors like intuitiveness, efficiency, and accessibility. This often involves user testing.
Security Reviews: Evaluate the software’s vulnerability to security threats, identifying potential weaknesses and recommending mitigations. This may involve penetration testing.
Performance Reviews: Assess the speed, responsiveness, and efficiency of the software under different conditions. This usually involves load testing and performance benchmarking.
Code Reviews: Primarily focus on the quality of the source code, checking for bugs, style inconsistencies, and adherence to coding standards.
Requirements Reviews: Validate the completeness, consistency, and feasibility of the software requirements before development begins.
Design Reviews: Assess the overall design of the software, its architecture, and its ability to meet the requirements.

3. Based on the Review Participants:

Peer Reviews: Reviews conducted by colleagues or other developers within the same team.
Expert Reviews: Reviews performed by external specialists with specific expertise in areas like security or performance.
User Reviews: Reviews provided by end-users based on their experience with the software. These are often found on app stores or software review websites.

These categories are not mutually exclusive. A single software review can combine elements of several types. For example, a formal technical review might include aspects of usability, security, and performance reviews. The choice of review type depends on the software’s complexity, its criticality, and the goals of the review process.