Code Review Remarks: Lessons Learned

It appears that one consequence of being a tech lead is that team members consider you the default reviewer for all their pull requests. Though the process seems straightforward, there are many aspects that need to be considered. Effectively being one form of feedback, I would like to share my observations and give advice to future leaders about making this process as smooth as possible.

Code review is essential link in improving the code quality. It helps developers grow, opens space for constructive criticism and discussions. This talk will give general guidance about how to approach reviewing PRs based on size and complexity. After that the main focus will be the soft skills aspect, targeting the following questions: Do I need to tailor review per team member? How will the written feedback be interpreted? How detailed should a feedback be? What actions to take in attempt to decrease the amount of remarks in a PR? Many of these situations are based on personal experience from making code review for more than 8 years.