Code Review

Why?

Code Reviews are an important part of your skillset. It’s a way of getting feedback on your code. It’s a way of improving your code. It helps you catch bugs before your clients do!

Doing Code Reviews help you make your code readable and understandable, and more robust and maintainable.

It will also help you see different approaches to a problem, learn new tricks from other developers, and help you share knowledge.

How?

Like how we work in sprints, the best Code Reviews are short and happen often.

It’s important to approach a Code Review with a positive attitude. We’re aiming for constructive criticism of the code, not the person. It should be a blame-free process where you work together on improving the code. You should be looking for actual problems in the code, rather than worrying about your preferences or style choices.

Pull Requests, like you do when you follow a Git Flow process are a great way of getting a Code Review from a peer.

Using a checklist can make doing Code Reviews easier. The links in Further Reading below have a few in, of various sizes. Have a look at them and pick a few items to start your own checklist. Your list doesn’t have to be long to start with: you can always add to it later.