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Emergency scenario

As explained in "Looks Good to Me"

An emergency scenario is a code-review situation requiring an exception to the regular approval process because urgent circumstances make that process impractical.

An emergency scenario is a code-review situation where urgent circumstances make the regular approval process impractical. It permits a controlled exception without treating the exception as the new default. section 3.4.1

A defensible emergency exception combines several safeguards:

  • Mark the pull request with an emergency tag. section 3.4.1
  • Permit author self-approval only for tagged emergencies, while preserving the regular process for ordinary changes. section 3.4.1
  • Require a justification after self-approval; linking the related bug report can satisfy the emergency rationale. section 3.4.1
  • Consider expanding emergency approver access to next-level managers instead of allowing self-approval. section 3.4.1

Emergency pull request

A developer submits an urgent fix, adds the emergency tag, and self-approves it because no regular approver is available. The linked bug report records why the exception was necessary. section 3.4.1

How "Looks Good to Me" covers it

How deep it goes
Defines tagging, permitted self-approval, justification, and an alternative manager-approval route, without specifying emergency detection details.
Examples
Uses an emergency pull-request tag, a linked bug report, and next-level managers as an alternative approver pool.
What it assumes
Assumes a regular approval process and teaches how to add accountable exceptions when tooling limits policy configuration.
What you can do after
Operate/configure an emergency review path with explicit tags, limited self-approval, and recorded justification.
How it connects
Connects code review with pull requests, approval policies, self-approval, bug reports, and team working agreements.
Cover of "Looks Good to Me"
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This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of "Looks Good to Me". The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.