Code reviews

Code reviews are an important software engineering practice. The main benefits of code reviews are increased software quality and that knowledge about the code base is shared among team members.

Code reviews can either be your team’s superpower, or an expensive bottleneck. In my code review workshops, I let teams in on the secrets to fast and effective code reviews. In those hands-on and interactive workshops, I share all my knowledge from over ten years of researching software engineering practices and working with product teams such as Windows, Office, Visual Studio and Exchange to boost their engineering habits.

Code review experience

I have researched and improved code reviewing techniques for several years at Microsoft. I worked for the Tools for Software Engineering team where I was responsible to analyze and improve the tools and practices for the internal engineering teams. Microsoft’s internal engineering comprises several tens of thousands of people. Windows, Office, Exchange – all, used the code review tooling provided by our team. I also led several investigations and improvements regarding the software development processes and tools. All analyses and changes were driven by data and insights from empirical studies.

Code review tooling

I worked on the team that was responsible for the internal code review tool, called CodeFlow. There, I helped build and deploy a code review analytics platform. But mainly, I helped teams get the most out of their code reviewing practices by distilling code review best practices and code review anti-patterns. For that, I analyze thousands of code reviews and interviewed and surveyed thousands of engineers. Those insights drove the development and enhancement of the code review tool as well as the code review processes.

Consultancy and Training Business

Since 2018, I help also companies and teams outside of Microsoft to get the most out of their code review practices. I do so by consulting engineering leaders and giving company training for code reviews. This has been one of the most rewarding activities that I’ve ever engaged in. Interacting with teams, and helping engineers overcome socio-technical challenges is exactly what I’m meant to do.

Amazing expert team

I was very fortunate to work with some of the main experts on code reviews and empirical software engineering. Chris Bird, who is a stand-out expert when it comes to code reviewing, is also a wonderful mentor. Another wonderful person I work with is Margareth Anne Storey. She is an eminent authority when it comes to helping people to explore, understand, and share complex information and knowledge.
Finally, I want to give my gratitude to my Jacek Czerwonka for his mentorship. He truly knows how to position research in an industrial setting in a way that drives innovation.

Articles about Code reviews

Apart from my peer-reviewed scientific articles in high-ranked journals and publications, such as ACM, IEEE, and EMSE, I’ve also written more than a dozen blog posts about code reviews.
A good starting point is my large blog-post series about code reviewing. Also, by the end of 2019, I started working on a code review book together with Dr. Alberto Bacchelli. if you are interested, you can follow our process closely and also access early drafts of the book by joining the early reader group here.
Below, you will find a list of blog posts related to code reviews. I hope you enjoy them!