How not to run code reviews
Almost everyone who works with agile software engineering practices is aware of Code Review, and most of you already had a chance to participate in such kind of acitivities. Unfortunately very few people realize that Code Reviews is not only an approach of making the architecture and code better, but also important communication point between peers, where ones judge and others get judged. Teams which don’t follow the basic rules of efficient communication and problem solving during Сode Reviews, have a high risk of being affected by issues, which can lately ruin their team attitude and even personal relations between the colleagues. Having faced with such negative experiences, I’ve collected a plenty of bad practices running a Code Review and asked my colleagues about their emotions after being “code reviewed” in unproper way. With all of that we’ll try to understand the most dangerous pitfalls of weak Code Reviews, their influences on team morale and will also leave some place for your experiences with this approach from your side. As a result you’ll have a clear idea about how no to run a Code Review and avoid personal issues in your daily work.
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot(20)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked(8)
Similar to How not to run code reviews
Similar to How not to run code reviews(20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded(20)
How not to run code reviews
- 1. How not to run Code Reviews Viktor Malyi Software Testing Engineer Garmin Würzburg GmbH, Germany
- 2. 2 Hallo! Software Testing Engineer Würzburg (Germany) Earlier: Web-apps testing Backend testing Performance testing iOS, Android apps testing Leading testing teams
- 3. 3 What I do?
- 4. 4 Today What do we think code review is? What is code review in reality? What to avoid? What to pursue?
- 5. 5 Why doing Code Reviews? Of course to find bugs!
- 6. 6 Other reasons for doing Code Reviews? • To help • To teach/learn • Or to criticize?
- 10. 10 It’s not only about the code…
- 11. 11 Resistance to code review
- 12. 12 „Ego-Effect“
- 13. 13 Core Developers… … get their reviews approved quicker*… Impact of Developer Reputation on Code Review Outcomes in OSS Projects: An Empirical Investigation Amiangshu Bosu, Jeffrey C. Carver. Department of Computer Science, University of Alabama
- 14. 14 … and more often* Impact of Developer Reputation on Code Review Outcomes in OSS Projects: An Empirical Investigation Amiangshu Bosu, Jeffrey C. Carver. Department of Computer Science, University of Alabama
- 16. 16 You’re judged each time
- 17. 17 Do you feel that the code reviews you do for other people are constructive and clear?* No 2 % I don't know 31 % Yes 67 % *International online survey among IT-Professionals, November 2014, 310 participants
- 18. 18 Do you feel that code reviews you do for other people have been considered picky?* No 21 % I don't know 56 % Yes 23 % *International online survey among IT-Professionals, November 2014, 310 participants
- 19. 19 Why do you think your reviews are considered picky?* *International online survey among IT-Professionals, November 2014, 310 participants Not constructive and clear “-1” numerous times Too many emotions Bad personal relations 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% Multiple answers allowed
- 20. 20 Have you ever had a feeling that the one who reviews your code criticizes you personally and not your code?* Yes 15 % No 85 % *International online survey among IT-Professionals, November 2014, 310 participants
- 21. 21 Which implications it has? *International online survey among IT-Professionals, November 2014, 310 participants Hard to get "+1" 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Multiple answers allowed Non-constructive and emotional comments I have to wait for review too long
- 22. 22 Words can hurt „Never do this in such a way!“ „Why it’s used here at all?“ „It’s all wrong!“ „WTF!?!“ „It’s obvious!“
- 24. 24 Ask questions rather than make statements You did it wrong… What was the reason of…
- 25. 25 Don’t ask „Why?“ Why the variable is not local? It seems that the variable…
- 26. 26 Praise/Reward/Honour Well done! Good job! Let’s add this to our coding standards!
- 28. 28 Project-specific checklist • Based on experience • Includes critical programming issues • Includes common mistakes • Great source for teaching newcomers
- 29. 29 Review less, find more Smart Bear case study on informal code reviews, 2006, 2500 reviews, 3.2 MLOC, 50 developers
- 30. 30 Explain more first Smart Bear case study on informal code reviews, 2006, 2500 reviews, 3.2 MLOC, 50 developers
- 31. 31 Reviews must identify as many defects as possible, regardless of personality who „caused“ or found them