Emerging in Agile through Code Review

For every Agile team to succeed, a  self-organizing development team is essential. To accomplish this target, each team requires a detailed code review. A code review would basically help the developers to learn code base, along with techniques to grow their skill sets. It’s really fascinating to see how the teams treat their code review. Some teams regard code review as a  barrier to get things done while some feel that code review is a pivotal step to success.

So, what exactly is a code review?

Whenever a developer finishes working on a code, another developer examines the code written by considering the following question:

• Does the code contain any logical error?
• Are all the cases fully implemented?
• Is the new test sufficient for the new code? Are there changes to be done in existing automated test code?
• Is the new code according to the style guidelines?

A code review should always blend with the team’s existing processes. It is an important factor which determines the possible outcomes for a team.

A Perfect Stance for Code Review

The attitude of everyone involved in reviewing the code mainly affects the outcome. The perfect result is obtained when both the reviewer and the reviewee are not preoccupied with the ideas of what the code could result in and what it should be. It is always said that starting a code review without any sort of expectation is the most effective way to deal with it.

Journey of Code Review for an Agile team

The code review is one prime means of communication for every Agile team. No matter how demanding the task becomes, the entire team would dedicatedly work on improving the quality of the code within the allotted time. Informal, over-the-shoulder review is popular amongst the Agile team, which ideally is a simple practice of improving the collective code ownership and the quality of code. The code review starts with a plain rule: Explain your code changes to someone else before you check in. This sometimes acts as a drawback for the team, resulting in an interruption to a developer’s workflow. After this, a reviewer needs time to get back to his own flow which is essential before he/she switches tasks.

Check-in

There are certain procedures to be completed after the code review is done. The next step would be merging the code review with the team’s source control. The criteria should include items such as:

• At least two developers are required for code review.
• The changes happening must be visible to more than one individual.
• Comments from other developers should be included in code review.
• The code must be reviewed by a member of another team

When check-ins and code reviews are done frequently, a collective awareness is created among the team members. It becomes a norm for each team to review the code. Due to frequent code inspection, the productivity of the Agile team is increased, thus raising the quality of the product.

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Finally, being agile doesn’t indicate that you are thorough with the code review. It can make you realize the power of code review by enabling shared code ownership and agility.