The Art of the Code Review

The inspiration for this was a piece about the art of the good code review. Throughout my career, I've seen code reviews grow and change. From formal meetings to automated notifications and asynchronous discussions to complete lip service to the process. I'd like to think that most organizations are beyond the latter and there is some sort of review beyond the developer, but I still see a lack of other eyes looking at code before it's deployed, especially database code. The article above opens with the idea of why we review code. The main reason is to create ownership, or more specifically, shared ownership. I had never thought of it in these terms, even though I think the ideas of standards and patterns are certainly shared items. Having everyone take ownership not only keeps quality high but could help you share knowledge and also ensure everyone feels a responsibility to safeguard all the code. This also helps everyone keep an eye on the larger picture of the entire codebase. Read the rest of The Art of the Code Review