This page is meant to provide a general guide to follow when conducting a design review for a PCB schematic/layout you designed. It is also a guide for those who have been assigned tasks as part of a design review.

Schematic Review (Designers)

In Asana under your project:

• For each new part you created for your project, create a task and assign someone to go through the Part Review Checklist for the parts. Specify if you need the schematic symbol reviewed, the PCB footprint reviewed, or both reviewed.

• Create a task for each sheet in your schematic and assign someone to review that sheet. Be sure to provide some details in the description about what exactly you want the reviewer to look for when reviewing that sheet (i.e. for a buck converter, you might want the reviewer to double check your calculations and component values match the datasheet)

• Create a task for each of the general checklists and assign someone to review those checklists

The number of people you assign to your schematic review will depend on how big and complicated your schematic is. Typically for smaller projects (1-3 sheets), 2-3 reviewers will be enough. For larger projects, it may be better to include more reviewers to reduce the workload on each person. Once you've set up the Asana tasks for your schematic review, ping the people you assigned to review your schematic on the WARG Discord. Be sure to add a due date for each task (typically 1 week, can make this longer or shorter depending on the urgency of the project).

After all the reviewers are done reviewing your schematic, go through the comments and fix any issues that were found. If you disagree with a comment or want to discuss it more, talk to the reviewer that left the comment. Once all comments have been resolved, mark the tasks as complete.

Schematic Review (Reviewers)

If you’ve been pinged to do a schematic review, you’ll be responsible for completing your sections by the due date set by the designer. If you don’t think you’ll be able to complete the review in time, let the designer know ASAP so they can make an exception or reassign sections in time.

• Before starting on any review, be sure to update the project from version control in Altium

• For part reviews, go through the Part Review Checklist. If you notice anything missing or incorrect in the symbol or footprint, leave a comment on the Asana task

• If you are assigned to review a schematic sheet, review the things specified by the designer in their checklists. This will likely involve checking datasheets and calculations to ensure circuits are designed correctly. If no issues are found, mark the task as complete. Otherwise, leave a comment on the Asana task explaining what needs to be fixed

• If you are assigned a generic review section, go through the checklist and verify that ALL schematic sheets adhere to the checklist. If you notice any issues, leave a comment on the Asana task specifying what needs to be fixed and where. If everything is OK, mark the task as complete

PCB Layout Review (Designers)

In Asana under your project:

• Create a task for each of the general checklists and assign someone to review those checklists

• For any specific parts of your board where there is a significant and specialized portion of layout that needs to be reviewed, create a task and assign it to someone. This section is typically for the layout of any ICs and large/complex circuits. Highlight specific things that you’d like the reviewer to look for in the description of the task

Similar to the schematic review, the number of people you assign will depend on how big and complicated your board is. Smaller boards may only need 2-3 reviewers, while larger boards may need more. Once you’ve set up all the tasks, ping the people you assigned to review your layout and set a due date on the tasks (typically 1 week, can be adjusted depending on the urgency of the board).

After all the reviewers are done reviewing your schematic, go through the comments and fix any issues that were found. If you disagree with a comment or want to discuss it more, talk to the reviewer that left the comment. Once all comments have been resolved, mark the task as complete

PCB Layout Review (Reviewers)

Same idea as the schematic review. Again, if you don’t think you’ll be able to complete the review in time, let the designer know ASAP.

• Before starting on any review, be sure to update the project from version control in Altium

• For generic layout review sections, go through the checklist and verify the ENTIRE layout adheres to the checklist. If you notice any issues, leave a comment specifying what needs to be fixed and where (screenshots are helpful here). If there are no issues, mark the task as complete

• For specific layout review sections, verify the layout is OK according to the checklist made by the designer. If there is an IC or multiple ICs in the section, be sure the layout for all the ICs matches the layout recommendations in the datasheets for the ICs. If there are any issues, leave a comment on the task specifying what needs to be fixed and where