process / How We Work

Code Review Guidelines

Code review is an essential part of Brilliant workflow, and we need to define a strategy to make it effortless and merge requests more structured so they can be processed by automation tools such as:

• linking a merge request to a JIRA ticket
• collecting and processing commit messages
• automatically verifying code style
• automatically verifying the quality of a merge request

We described guidelines to help us create more organized merge requests, boost the code review process, and get high-quality code as a result.

Merge request best practices

1. A merge request should contain all changes as you'd expect them to be. You'd be surprised how often people don't do it.
2. A merge request should be mergeable into the master branch. People sometimes ask for review, but a merge request has conflicts or requires a manual rebase.
3. A merge request title should describe the change you want to make.
4. If a merge request is complex and/or contains many changes, fill in a description to provide more context to a reviewer.
5. Specify a JIRA ticket ID(s) in a merge request:
   1. Start a merge request title with the ticket ID. For example, "PRJ-123: add the Preferred badge to the hotel card."
   2. Or mention it in a merge request description, using the "Solves PRJ-123" or "Closes PRJ-123" syntax.
6. A merge request needs to have green pipelines:
   1. If pipelines don't pass, the merge request can't be merged and isn't ready for a code review.
   2. That includes tests, linters, security checks, etc.

Code review

Code review is like writing code — everyone does it differently. But several rules make our workflow more efficient:

1. Review merge requests as quickly as possible. The sooner an author of the merge request gets feedback, the sooner the merge request can be merged and shipped.
2. Clarify before suggesting changes. Sometimes what you suggest may not be right. It's always better to ask questions to clarify the solution before suggesting changes.
3. Every developer should complete code reviews. Even experienced developers can make a mistake. Plus, by reviewing their merge requests, new team members will learn and improve their skills faster.
4. Be kind and objective. Code review is a process of giving feedback for someone's work.

Feedback

1. Should not be based on your subjective preferences
2. Should be given in a positive manner