Your First Reviewer Is a Duck

written

Rubber duck your own pull requests.

Describe the big picture

In the pull request’s description, explain the context of why the change was made. What came before it, why the change is being made now, and what the larger objective is.

Summarise the changes being made.

Mention any limitations, further actions or next steps that are still to come.

List any dependencies or assumptions: systems or behaviours that need to change; or training or knowledge sharing that may need to occur.

Explain changes, not behaviour

Go through each of the changes and attempt to explain them as if to a rubber duck.

Leave comments to explain the change, linking them back to things mentioned in the pull request description (prefix them with a 🦆, if you like). Visually indicate with emojis what type of change it is.

Add comments to the source code that describe the new behaviour. The comments in the pull request should be reserved for describing the change.

Give it an effective title

Use the 4 Is to give your pull request an effective title before sharing it with other reviewers.


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