Providing and responding to review feedback

It is worth remembering that code reviews are aimed at the overall quality of code in keeping with the company’s guidelines. Therefore, feedback should be constructive and not used as an excuse to put down or embarrass a colleague. Similarly, reviewer feedback should not be taken personally and responses to the reviewer should focus on suitable action and explanation.

The following diagram shows the process of issuing a PR, performing a code review, and either accepting or rejecting the PR:

Figure 2.12: The peer code review process

Providing feedback as a reviewer

As the peer code reviewer, you will be responsible for understanding the requirements and making sure the code meets them. So, look for the answers to these questions:

• Are you able to read and understand the code?
• Can you see any potential bugs?
• Have any trade-offs been made?
• If so, why were the trade-offs made?
• Do the trade-offs incur any technical debt that will need to be factored into the project further down the line?

Once your review is complete, you will have three categories of feedback to choose from: positive, optional, and critical. With positive feedback, you can provide commendations on what the programmer has done well. This is a good way to bolster morale. Optional feedback can be very useful in helping computer programmers hone their programming skills in line with the company guidelines, and they can work to improve the overall well-being of the software being developed.

Finally, we have critical feedback. This is necessary for any problems that have been identified and must be addressed before the code can be accepted and passed on to the QA department. Your critical comments must address the specific issue being raised with valid reasons to support the feedback.

Responding to feedback as a reviewee

As the reviewee programmer, you must effectively communicate the background of your code to your reviewer. While you are waiting for your code to be reviewed, you must not make any further changes to it.

As you can guess, you will receive either positive, optional, or critical feedback from the reviewer. The positive feedback works to boost your confidence in the project as well as your morale. Build upon it and continue with your good practices. You may choose to act upon optional feedback, but it’s always a good idea to talk it through with your reviewer.

For critical feedback, you must take it seriously and act upon it as this feedback is imperative for the very success of the project. You must handle critical feedback politely and professionally. Don’t allow yourself to be offended by any comments from your reviewer; they are not meant to be personal.

As soon as you receive your reviewer’s feedback, act upon it, and make sure that you discuss it with them as necessary.