Mastering the Art of Code Reviews: A Veteran’s Guide

3 min readMay 26, 2025

Whether you’re an engineering lead, a mid-level developer, or just starting out code reviews are a constant companion in your software journey. They’re critical for quality assurance, knowledge sharing, and system reliability. But in large teams filled with talented, opinionated individuals, code reviews can easily become sources of tension instead of growth.

With over 20 years of engineering experience, I’ve distilled the practice of code reviewing into three essential pillars:

Ethics
Standardization
Areas of Focus

Let’s dive in.

🧭 The Ethics of Code Reviews

Begin every review with humility. Always assume there’s context you might be missing. Your feedback could require someone to rethink or rebuild work they’ve spent hours if not days — on. Language matters. Harsh words like “This is wrong” or “Why do we even need this?” are demoralizing. Try asking, “Can you walk me through this section?” or “I’m struggling to understand this part can you clarify?”

Unfortunately, the history of software engineering includes incidents where poorly delivered feedback drove talented developers away:

A Xamarin contributor received the phrase “You should feel bad” on a PR. The result? They left the project altogether.
Sarah Sharp stopped contributing to the Linux Kernel due to what she described as toxic communication.
A newcomer to Ruby on Rails felt humiliated by sarcastic responses and abandoned open-source altogether.

In all these cases, the loss was more than just a line of code it was human capital, morale, and community trust.

📏 Standardization: The Bedrock of Constructive Reviews

Without agreed-upon standards, code reviews become battles of opinion. Everyone has a favorite structure or pattern but when teams lack unified standards, reviews turn subjective and unproductive.

If your team lacks a standard, start by exploring:

These offer principles, conventions, and structures that help teams move faster, argue less, and focus more on the mission.

Remember: enforcing standards isn’t just the senior engineer’s job. Everyone shares the responsibility.

🔍 What to Actually Focus on During Reviews

There are three key aspects of every code review:

1. Purpose

Start by asking: Does this code serve a real purpose? Engineers may sometimes overbuild, creating features “just in case.” That’s waste. Every pull request should clearly state the business or technical requirement it addresses.

If you don’t know why a change was made, don’t approve it.

2. Logic

Once the purpose is validated, ask: Does this logic cover all real-world scenarios? Go beyond syntax and correctness. Think in terms of scenario coverage, not just code coverage.

Consider using flow diagrams they make blind spots visible and bridge understanding between stakeholders and developers.

3. Structure

This is about readability and maintainability. “Clever” code is a trap. The smartest thing you can do is write “dumb,” straightforward code for complex systems.

Example:

public List<int> ProcessNumbers(List<int> numbers)
{
    var processedNumbers = new List<int>();

    foreach (int number in numbers)
    {
        bool numberIsNotDivisibleByTwo = number % 2 != 0;

        if (numberIsNotDivisibleByTwo)
        {
            processedNumbers.Add(number * number);
        }
    }
    return processedNumbers;
}

This version is easier to read, debug, and modify than the more concise, but cryptic:

public List<int> ProcessNumbers(List<int> numbers) =>
    numbers.Where(n => n % 2 != 0).Select(n => n * n).ToList();

🤖 AI and Code Reviews: A Word of Caution

AI is transforming how we work but full reliance on it for code reviews introduces risk:

Context Blindness: AI can’t always see the big picture. It might approve logic that violates business rules.
Overconfidence: AI-generated feedback can seem authoritative — even when it’s wrong.
Lost Opportunities: Code reviews aren’t just about catching bugs they’re vital for mentoring, architectural alignment, and team bonding.

Use AI as a helper, not a replacement.

🎯 Final Thoughts

Code reviews are not roadblocks they’re polishers. When someone critiques your code, they’re tying your shoelaces before you run into production. The feedback is meant to make you and your work shine.

When you embrace this process with the right ethics, structure, and focus you don’t just improve code. You build stronger teams and better products.

If this resonates with you or your team, I’d love to hear how you approach code reviews. Share your thoughts, tips, or even war stories in the comments.

Let’s raise the bar together.