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Wikimedia Developer Summit/2017/Better code review processes for reviewers

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Wikimedia Developer Summit 2017 Session Notes Template

Session Overview

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Title: Better code review processes for reviewers

Day & Time: Tuesday at 1:10pm

Room: Ventana

Phabricator Task Link: task T149639

Slides: google docs presentation

Facilitator(s): Andre

Note-Taker(s): greg-g, qgil

Remote Moderator:

Advocate:

Session Summary

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Detailed Summary

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etherpad notes

Purpose

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Move towards agreement on improvements, approaches, way forward to most important aspects

Discussion Topics

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  • Summary of suggestions:
    • Being friendly
    • Not starting with nitpicking
      • put all your nitpicking together, don't string it out over multiple reviews (if you can)
      • automate as much of it as possible in your coding styles checks in CI
    • Predictable approach
      • inconsistency across repos on review practices confusing (eg: Some abandon all WIP change >1 month old, others dont, etc.)
    • Architectural things first
    • Developers should contact the "responsible team" beforehand [for bigger changes]

Committee discussion:

  • what's the charter? enforcement of practices or standards setting? problem definition?
  • ensure the members have the needed authority

Meta code-review practices suggestion:

  • James F described some nice Gerrit features his team uses, these should be documented/shared more widely if they are deemed more widely useful

Action Items

  • Set up a working group (which might form a committee)
    • purpose: problem definition / scoping.
    • timeframe: 2-3 months? present finding and recommendations for next steps (probably something like "form a committee to work on the problem")