How do you instill a positive code review...

How do you instill a positive code review culture in your team? Lead by example. It’s most straightforward in a startup, where the leader is usually technical and codes alongside their reports. By setting the tone and jumping onto reviews quickly, using questions instead of declarative statements, and focusing on the things that matter without getting hung up on small style details, the team will notice. Furthermore, if this person is also the manager and they have 1:1s, they can further reinforce these patterns and encourage their use. " "" "For this to work, though, engineers need to understand the core purpose of code review. Since it can often seem like a way for them to exert power and show off knowledge, it needs to be clear that only through positive, constructive reviewing will they advance within their role. Everyone wants to grow; whether it’s purely increasing their salary or a more altruistic growth of knowledge, engineers always want more. The key is to clarify to non-constructive reviewers that the best way for them to grow is by adopting this effective style of review. It will take extreme patience for some, but by framing every conversation asking for growth towards improvement in their code reviews, they will have no choice. #bendevtip

---

Original post on LinkedIn