Understanding the Experience of Code Review: Misalignments, Attention, and Units of Analysis

Abstract

Code review is a common practice in software development and numerous studies have described different aspects of the process; its characteristics, the expectations on that process, issues around reviewer allocation, and more. However, one aspect that has not been studied to a large extent is the experience of the developers in the code review process. This is unfortunate given the significant amount of time that developers spend on this activity, where problems that degrade developers’ experience on a daily basis can create work environment issues.

Topics & Concepts