The most common type of code review is the ever common walkthrough review. It can be an over the shoulder review or a more formal process involving meetings; Either way, walkthrough review involves the author highlighting their changes and trying to get feedback from other team members.
Although this is a popular type of review, I really feel that there are some major drawbacks that, in my opinion, hamper the effectiveness of the process.
A fundamental may become apparent when the next developer has to understand or even maintain the code. You won’t get the benefit of author guidance, and important information is often left out of the code because the reviewer accepts what made sense when the review was written.
Review traversal tends to be rather cursory, with little time allowed for looking for the more subtle problems within the code. An error will be fixed when it is caught in the traversal, but what other code depends on it? Will it cause any behavioral issues within the code? These questions can best be answered in a single review.
There is a real lack of diversity in any code walkthrough with the author leading the process and others simply making it clear that what has been said matches what has been done. This also creates a lack of depth as it becomes a very basic commit process.
Meetings can be time consuming and difficult to manage when participants are separated by many time zones. It’s also very easy to get sidetracked from these meetings, although a good moderator can mitigate this problem.
Despite the above disadvantages to review reviews, they do have their advantages. Because the process is done as a team, it’s a great environment for new developers to learn and pass new ideas on to each other. There are also many instructional conversations that have the benefit of happening in person and are not gained in a single review.
It is also good to have multiple skills present in the room, as this provides broader learning and the review benefits from multiple experience. So, to round up, I would always recommend doing an individual code review as the default, but don’t forget to reach out and never turn down the walkthrough option, especially if there is a member who could benefit from the experience.
