Code Review That Matters: Tips and Best Practices

First of all, what is code review? Basically, it’s a review of the code written by other team members. The result of the code review is feedback on the completed task: change requests and comments, or a green light for further testing and release.

While the task itself seems fairly straightforward, there are many things to consider and a number of different ways to perform code review, and there is no one-size-fits-all guide that will work for every company or project.

Developers have different styles of writing code, and code review can turn into a battle of preferences. Moreover, the code review process cannot speed up your development: it always entails additional time for creating pull requests, fixing bugs after the review, and testing the functionality after the fix.

With all of this said, you may be thinking: is code review even necessary? And the answer is simple: it is.

In this article, I will explain why it is worth investing valuable time in code review and give some recommendations that would help improve the quality of your project through code review, and will not harm team relations, but on the contrary, will strengthen collaboration.

The value of code review

Before we get into the details, let’s understand why code review is critical to development and why the time and effort spent on setting up a code review process and developer hours will greatly impact your company’s success.

First of all, more attention to your code means more chance of discovering potential bugs or security or privacy issues. The sooner these problems are identified, the cheaper it is to fix them.

At this step, fixing a bug just means changing the code and pushing the changes, as opposed to potentially disrupting production, regulatory issues, or a ruined product reputation due to leaking user data.

Code review means sharing best practices within a company or project. This is really useful because it ensures that all developers can follow these rules and write code accordingly, making it concise, clear and maybe even stylish. Similarly, knowledge sharing allows developers to share their personal approaches, which can enrich others with new perspectives.

Code review is also relevant to maintaining proper workflow, such as preventing developers from making untested changes directly to production. Properly performed code review reduces the risk of bugs and additionally serves as a layer of protection in case a developer deliberately decides to break the code — although such cases are unlikely, they do happen.

Best practices

Now let’s look at some tips that can help you build a code review process in the most efficient way that will also benefit teams.

For a detailed review, it might make sense to check the author’s branch on your local computer and examine each modified file individually. Your code editor can help spot syntax errors, and file associations are easier to understand when viewed locally. Encourage focused and thoughtful review. For example, when I need to review code, I book an appointment in my calendar, put on my headphones, and basically make sure there are no distractions. This helps in correctly understanding the unfamiliar context and maintaining focus throughout the process.

Sometimes it makes sense to review just the syntax and pick out the obvious errors without going into the whole business logic. Do a detailed review if the author specifically requests it. This approach is useful if you get multiple merge requests per day and don’t have time to dive into properly understanding the entire change. Just make sure the author is aware that you’re mostly reviewing the code style and obvious violations, not the logic itself.

Be sure to style your comments according to the person who created the merge request. If it’s a senior developer or a developer who has been with your company for a while, perhaps the comments could be shorter and clearer because that person is more likely to understand them correctly. On the contrary, if the developer is new to the product or doesn’t have enough experience, it might be worth writing exhaustive comments that explain things in detail. Make sure your comments are friendly and not aggressive so you can support the author and make sure they don’t feel attacked.

Beware of emotional damage. If you write too many comments on a review, it can overload the author. Try to keep the most important comments and move some of the comments offline if you decide you need to explain something in more detail. Our goal is to encourage a positive approach and leverage productivity among colleagues.

Building on the previous idea, it’s worth noting that there’s usually not much point in arguing in the comments. If another developer disagrees with your feedback, the most productive way may be to take the conversation offline or chat. Avoid making colleagues feel publicly attacked or judged, and never fight just for the sake of fighting. Instead, try to combine your efforts to find a constructive solution.

Let’s summarize

As you can see, the purpose of code review is not only to find bugs and problems, but also to share knowledge and experience between developers. It helps to improve code quality and raise the professional level of the development team.

A well-organized code review does not only mean optimized workflows, precise process monitoring and effective detection of errors and potential vulnerabilities in the code. It is also an area where the soft skills of programmers are particularly pronounced. It may be more difficult to conduct a good code review than to write good code.

I can easily say that building a collaborative and consistent code review process among developers is critical to developing a high-quality product. Not only can it save money on damage control and troubleshooting late in development, but it can also encourage teamwork and knowledge sharing within your team.

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