Working in a team environment that makes use of frequent code reviews can be extremely challenging. Coders, like artists tend take a lot of pride in their work and the thought of frequent reviews can feel threatening. To create an environment where reviews are welcomed, adopting an egoless approach can prove practical.
To successfully achieve a comfortable review friendly working practice will take effort from both reviewers and reviewees. Some practice is also required until the reviewing process is just right. If the reviewer is too soft there is a danger that poor quality code could make it into the codebase, whereas if they are too hard the coder could become unnecessarily defensive or upset.
When a “review before check in” process is first introduced there is usually some frustration from the coder because it seems like time is being wasted before they can complete their work. In the long run I have found the time spent on reviews to be worth every second as they often catch defects before the testing process and help to improve a coders knowledge.
To help resolve the personal issues that invariably arise from reviews you can adopt the Ten Commandments of Egoless Programming as a way of resolving any hurt feelings. It is vital that reviewers use language that does not express disappointment, blame or general negativity as this will create a negative attitude toward reviews.
Tools I have used for code review include Smart Bear Code Collaborator and Jupiter for Eclipse. I recommend Smart Bear if you are serious about reviews and have the budget, otherwise Jupiter may be sufficient. It’s worth noting that Smart Bear may offer a free licence if your project is free and open source.
We should totally write our own code review tool. I’m not kidding. It’s right along the lines of what good writers need for critiques.
If Wave had syntax highlighting and some way to mark things completed, I’m thinking it would also make a fine code review system.
For PHP devs, here’s one I’ve been eying for a while: https://squadedit.com/. At $35/mo for up to five developers, it looks like a perfect solution for small teams.
Also, here is one I don’t like much, but it’s open source and readily available: http://codedemon.codeplex.com/