Prioritize code reviews
Our side path is an obstacle course: on arrival I maneuver past garbage containers, bicycles, scooters, watering cans, balls and other abandoned toys. Once I’ve reached the gate—already halfway there—all that remains is to avoid the open doors of our little shed. When I reach the larger shed in the back of our garden I open its doors and place my bike on the left. Two more bikes go next to it. One by one I roll the bikes into the shed and close the door. Without thinking, I lock the shed door, and as I do, I walk away.
My body is abruptly stopped by my arm, my hand still holding the key in the lock. Apparently I didn’t turn it well. It feels like a signal: you’re too rushed. Am I too rushed? Maybe I am. After reading Slow Productivity I’m convinced more than ever that I do too many things at the same time and therefore do not achieve the quality level I strive for.
Just before the May holiday I had really gotten the hang of the slow philosophy: I consciously spent more time on tasks and actively communicated that I would pick up other tasks later. During that holiday, I decided to change something on a personal level as well: one book at a time. I read three. Slow and productive. And being productive in itself isn't even the goal, but a consequence of the focus.
Now, a few weeks after my holiday, I am still doing well. I am consciously paying more attention to fewer things and strangely enough—though actually, not strange at all—it yields more, including more depth and satisfaction.
I see one major pitfall: doing more things at the same time again. With AI and the endless stream of support tickets, that temptation is never far away. But I notice that my mindset has changed. I realize more than ever where the bottleneck in the process lies—namely with the code reviews—and that doing more things only exacerbates it. Just like reading books during my holiday, it is actually very simple: finish one thing before starting something new.
The same applies as a team. Together, we experience more enjoyment and satisfaction when work is completed and tasks do not endlessly recur in a daily standup or get pushed back to the next sprint. If we prioritize code reviews, I am convinced that we will learn more, collaborate more, and deliver more.
The great thing is that AI can help tremendously in this review phase. Not as an annoying pipeline blocker, but as a tool to properly understand a pull request. We all benefit from that.
Do you know what I did when I came home this afternoon and couldn't ride into my garden because of the usual obstacles? I lifted my bike. And then I cleaned up the mess without rushing: step by step.