Peer reviews
Peer reviews provide informal assurance at the discovery phase and throughout the agile lifecycle.
Run a peer review as an assessor
As an assessor you'll help a delivery team to understand if they have completed their discovery or how they are progressing through the alpha or beta phase.
A discovery peer review is 2 hours, while a mid-phase alpha or beta peer review can be up to 4 hours, depending on what the team would like to review.
The panel
A panel will consist of user research, design, product or delivery and a technical role.
At discovery, you'll specifically provide a level of assurance for a delivery team to decide if they need to stop the project, pause and focus on recommendations or carry on as they are.
As part of the panel, there will be a lead assessor, who'll be responsible for chairing the peer review and coordinating the report.
You should agree in the pre-call with the team how the session will run.
Before a peer review
Assessors should:
- read the supporting artefacts and start to think about questions
- take part in an introductory call (organised by the Service Assessment Plus team) and agree an agenda
- answer questions or concerns
During a peer review
At a discovery peer review
Assessors should:
- review the work
- decide if the team have done enough to understand who the users are and their needs
- understand what the problem is
- understand priorities for the team
- determine if there are things to work on in an alpha or the team should stop
- provide authoritative advice, guidance, and recommendations
At a mid-phase alpha or beta peer review
Assessors should consider how the delivery team are working towards the Service Standard.
After a peer review
Assessors should:
- add recommendations or outcomes to the report
- submit the report, if you're the lead assessor
- provide any support needed after the peer review, along with any actions. This could mean answering questions or giving advice
You'll be supported by the Service Assessment Plus team.
Complete a report
At discovery
The report should conclude whether the delivery team have understood the problem space and priorities for next steps following the end of discovery.
If the team have not yet reached a decision on next steps, the report will give feedback and recommendations based on the evidence shared.
At alpha or beta
The report should support the delivery team to understand whether they are ready for an end-of-phase assessment. It could identify any gaps, or actions to take before assessment.
Draft a report
Acknowledge any constraints or business requirements the team are working to.
Make sure you consider feedback on the positive aspects of the project or service too, not only on recommendations on what to improve.
Work with the rest of the panel to gather your findings and recommendations. Do this in a way that suits you. For example, use a shared Word doc or the panel chat in Teams.
Once the panel are happy with the notes, add them to the final report in the service. This is usually done by the lead assessor, but the panel can add their findings individually.
You should aim to complete the report within 3 days.
Submit a report
It's the lead assessor's responsibility to submit the peer review report to the Service Assessment Plus team for final checks before it's shared with the delivery team.
If the team accepts the report and there are recommendations the panel has offered to support, the team will be in touch. This could mean having a follow-up call or giving advice on a workshop, depending on the recommendations.
If the team challenges the report, they'll raise any issues with the Service Assessment Plus team, who'll set up a meeting with the panel.