The reviewer's focus

We always apply filters

You will probably recognize the following situation: you look at your watch to see if you still have time for a cup of coffee. You conclude that that is the case. Then someone in the queue of the coffee corner asks what time it is. You have to look at your watch again.

This happens because you looked at your watch the first time with the question: "Do I have time for coffee?", Which requires a calculation with the current time and the deadline you have. The current time is not 'stored in the memory', you forget it as soon as you know the answer to your question. You may have saved something like "I still have five minutes left".

Another example: You are looking for a girl in a crowd (café? Railway station? Classroom?). Do you see her? No. You continue. When someone asks: Who did you see? You do not know that. The only thing you know is that she's not there.

Checklists offer the right filter
When we search for something, we filter our observations to our search query. Translated into reviews, this means that it is extremely difficult to check for correct spelling and good design choices at the same time.

A checklist defines the focus of the reviewer and at the same time gives tips on how the reviewer can apply this focus. The chance that another reviewer with the same checklist will also find the same things has become bigger. In terms of research: the use of checklists makes the review more reliable.

By making checklists in advance, you specify not what has been made, but especially what should have been made. In terms of research: reviewing on the basis of checklists makes the product more valid.

source: http://geek-and-poke.com