Streamligning Code Review Process

• Work overload: Team is overloaded and not getting enough time to review PRs.
• Work prioritization: Code reviews are not prioritized by the team over other development activities.
• Communication: It is not communicated to the team that coding reviews should be finished within the time line set in the policy.
• Ambiguous responisbility: It is not clear who should review the code which is leading to no one reviewing the code.
• Insufficient Knowledge: If there are too many new members in team or insufficient members with expertise to review the code it can delay the code review as it takes longer time for new team members to develop understanding of code.

To ensure timely code reviews, engineering managers can utilize "code to review charts."

Code to review charts are a visual representation of the time taken to review pull requests (PRs) in a particular period. They provide engineering managers with a clear understanding of how long it takes for code changes to be reviewed.

Creating and using code to review charts is a straightforward process with Gitimprove. Just choose a time period to analyze. This could be a week, month, or any other period that is relevant to your team's code review process. Gitimprove will create a chart that shows the three components discussed earlier: PRs merged on time, PRs merged in an acceptable range, and PRs merged outside the acceptable range. Once the code to review chart has been created, it can be used to ensure timely code reviews, identify areas for improvement, and communicate progress and potential issues with their team as follows

• Identify issues in code review: To identify issues in code review process we should look at PRs merged outside acceptable range in code to review chart. If a large percentage of PRs are consistently taking longer than the acceptable range to review, it may indicate that the code review process is bottlenecked at code review stage.
• Set realistic expectations: By tracking the average time to review PRs, managers can get idea of actual time it is taking to review PRs in aggregate and this can help them in setting realistic expectations for the code review, which can help to prevent delays in the development timeline.
• Improve team communication: By using code to review charts to track the code review process, managers can communicate progress and potential issues with the development team, which can help to ensure that everyone is aligned and working towards the same goals.

While code to review charts can be a powerful tool for engineering managers, it's important to use them effectively to achieve the best results. Here are some best practices for using code to review charts to improve code to review process:

• Regularly review the charts: Reviewing the code to review chart on a regular basis, such as weekly or bi-weekly, can help identify trends and areas for improvement. This can help you stay on top of potential bottlenecks or other issues that may impact the code review process.
• Define acceptable time ranges: Clearly defining acceptable time ranges for each stage of the code review process can help set expectations and prevent delays. Before using code to review charts, make sure to set clear expectations for the code review process. This includes defining acceptable time ranges for each stage of the process, such as review and approval.
• Encourage team collaboration: code to review charts can be a great way to facilitate team collaboration and communication. Encourage team members to provide feedback on the code review process and suggest areas for improvement.
• Interpret the chart with context: When interpreting the code to review chart, it's important to consider factors that may affect the data, such as the complexity of the code changes, the size of the team, and any external factors that may impact the development timeline.
• Use the chart in conjunction with other metrics: While code to review charts are a valuable tool, they should be used in conjunction with other metrics, such approval to merge charts that shows time spent in infrastructure and time to merge charts that gives overall time it took to merge PRs, to gain a holistic understanding of the code review process.