Code reviews are ubiquitous in the software development ecosystem these days, and for good reason: effective code reviews can help keep your code quality high. However, for all of its importance, we very rarely teach people how to review code effectively. This can lead to unproductive code reviews where bugs are missed, people are misinformed, and design decisions are slowed down to a screeching halt.
However, it doesn't need to be like that; with a few simple guidelines, you can transform your code reviewing into a well oiled machine that keeps both app quality and team velocity high. We'll cover some cases where ineffective code reviews have led us to ship bugs to production and some lessons we've learned about how to effectively review code as a result. We'll also touch on some strategies you can use to keep your code review process moving quickly, even when the reviewer and reviewee may disagree on what the final code should look like.
1. A structured approach to reviewing code such that you limit the number of bugs in your application and maximize the amount of knowledge that's shared across your team.
2. How to determine whether your input would be valuable on a code review, even if you're not the person who was explicitly asked to review a particular change.
3. How to structure your code review feedback such that you create an environment for collaboratively improving a change rather than getting bogged down in bikeshedding.
