9 Eliminating process loopholes

 

This chapter covers

  • How loopholes happen
  • The different loopholes that can emerge in a code review process
  • How to fix those loopholes

It should go without saying: even the best code review processes can have loopholes! Whether they come about because of the wrong incentives or were never found from the start, code review loopholes are something that teams should give extra care and attention to. This chapter is especially relevant to the tech leads and engineering managers reading this book; keep an eye out for these loopholes on your own team and try to stop them before they become a bigger problem.

9.1 How do loopholes happen?

A loophole is defined as a means or opportunity to evade a rule, law, etc. [1]. In our case, the “rule” is the code review itself, and the loopholes are all the ways we skip it or conduct it in a superficial manner. It sounds so obvious and glaring that you’d think we’d recognize any loopholes creeping into our own review processes. However, anything from the company culture to the tools we use can sneakily introduce the gaps where loopholes can begin to grow.

9.2 Loopholes (and how to fix them)

9.2.1 An undefined code review process

9.2.2 Lack of time for code reviews

9.2.3 Tool (mis)configurations

9.2.4 Lack of feedback culture

9.2.5 Approval-driven metrics

9.2.6 Taking advantage of emergencies

Summary

Reference