Sometimes, reviews can stall or encounter issues, which can slow down the development process. This guide explores common challenges in the review process and provides strategies for effective troubleshooting, as well as an explanation of how Graphite's PR inbox can level up how you manage your PRs.
Common issues and solutions
1. Unassigned reviewers
Occasionally, pull requests are submitted without any reviewers assigned, which can delay the review process. To address this, teams can automate the assignment of reviewers using GitHub Actions, which can assign reviewers based on specific criteria such as file paths or code ownership. Additionally, enabling Graphite's PR inbox in your repositories ensures that pull requests needing reviews are highlighted in sections like "Waiting for review," helping to keep them from being overlooked.
2. Lack of engagement from reviewers
Another frequent issue is the lack of engagement from assigned reviewers, which can stall pull requests. Utilizing tools like GitHub notifications and Graphite's Slack notifications can help maintain reviewer engagement by prioritizing review tasks and reminders. With Graphite’s integration for Slack, teams receive real-time, actionable notifications for PR activities such as review requests, comments, mentions, and status changes. Additionally, you can configure reminder digests for PRs in your review queue and interact directly from Slack—approving, commenting on, or requesting changes to a PR.
3. Disorganized feedback
Managing feedback effectively is often a challenge, especially when multiple reviewers are involved. Encouraging the use of GitHub's "Start a review" button can help reviewers consolidate their comments and reduce the noise of piecemeal notifications. For better organization, Graphite allows teams to customize inbox sections, which can include categories for pull requests that need attention, are approved, or require further changes.
4. Misunderstandings due to lack of context
Misunderstandings or a lack of sufficient context can prolong discussions and complicate the review process. To prevent this, it is beneficial to ensure pull requests include detailed descriptions and links to relevant documentation or issues. Draft pull requests can also be useful for soliciting early feedback by allowing adjustments before a full review.
5. Handling large pull requests
Large pull requests pose significant challenges for reviewers, often leading to oversight and fatigue. Encouraging the submission of smaller, more manageable pull requests can alleviate this. Graphite offers first-class support for managing stacked pull requests allows for sequential and organized review of smaller changes, simplifying the review process and improving focus on individual components.
Enhancing the review process with Graphite
Graphite's PR inbox acts like an email client for your pull requests, helping you stay organized by categorizing PRs based on their status—like new, needing immediate review, or awaiting further updates. This customization helps make sure no pull request is overlooked. By using tools like Graphite's PR inbox to address common review issues, teams can make their review process smoother and more efficient.
