What do you do if you receive conflicting feedback on your programming code?
Receiving conflicting feedback on your programming code can be confusing and frustrating. It's a common scenario you might face as a programmer, whether you're working on a team project or contributing to open-source software. When different reviewers give you opposing suggestions or critiques, it's crucial to navigate the situation with a clear head and a strategy. Your objective should be to synthesize the feedback, improve your code, and maintain positive working relationships with your colleagues. Remember, the goal of feedback is to enhance the quality of your code and ultimately make you a better programmer.
When you receive conflicting feedback, your first task is to assess the validity and relevance of each piece of advice. Look at the experience and expertise of each reviewer, considering their perspective and the context of their comments. It's important to understand that not all feedback will be equally useful, and some may be subjective or based on personal preference rather than best practices or project requirements. Take the time to review your code with each piece of feedback in mind, and determine which suggestions align with your goals for the project.
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When faced with conflicting feedback on your code, carefully review each perspective to understand underlying concerns. Prioritize feedback based on project goals and technical requirements, consulting coding standards or colleagues for validation. Propose compromises or alternative solutions to address conflicting viewpoints and collaborate with stakeholders to implement agreed-upon changes. By approaching the situation with professionalism and a focus on finding solutions, you can enhance code quality and contribute to project success.
If the feedback is unclear or you find it contradictory, don't hesitate to reach out to the reviewers for clarification. A healthy dialogue can uncover the reasoning behind their comments, and you may discover that what seemed conflicting at first glance actually points to the same underlying issue. This step is crucial in ensuring you're not misinterpreting the feedback and that you have all the information needed to make informed decisions about your code.
Once you've assessed and clarified the feedback, prioritize the changes that need to be made to your code. Consider the impact of each suggested modification on the functionality, readability, and maintainability of your code. Some feedback might lead to immediate improvements, while other suggestions could be put on hold for future consideration. It's essential to balance the urgency of each change with the overall scope and timeline of your project.
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If the change is very critical and has many scenarios to be tested, then prioritising the changes plays a vital role. We can have a backlog document, where all the pending code review comments can be added, and also mention the reason behind why these changes were not implemented with the original PR.
Before implementing any changes based on feedback, thoroughly test your existing code. This will establish a baseline to measure the effects of the modifications you make. Use unit tests, integration tests, or manual testing methods to ensure that your current code is functioning as expected. After making changes, retest your code to confirm that the updates have improved the code without introducing new issues.
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Once we make any code review changes, we must and should always test the changes with all the use case scenario, because although the change looks simple, it may impact some border test cases. Hence, we should always test the changes again, with all the use cases, which were considered before code review comment ch ages were used.
With a clear understanding of which feedback to act on, begin implementing changes in your code. It's often helpful to tackle one modification at a time, especially if the changes are complex or could have significant repercussions on your codebase. As you make updates, keep in mind the principles of clean code: strive for simplicity, clarity, and efficiency. Remember to document your changes thoroughly so that others (and your future self) can understand the reasoning behind them.
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When implementing changes based on conflicting feedback, prioritize clarity and consensus. Carefully assess the validity of each perspective and aim for solutions that address the underlying concerns while aligning with project objectives. Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure buy-in and communicate transparently throughout the process. By fostering a collaborative environment and focusing on shared goals, you can effectively implement changes that enhance code quality and project success.
After addressing the feedback and updating your code, take a moment to reflect on the process. Consider what you learned from the experience and how it can inform your future coding practices. Conflicting feedback is an opportunity for growth, allowing you to see different perspectives and approaches to problem-solving in programming. Use this experience to refine your coding skills and to develop a more robust method for handling feedback in the future.
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We should always have a positive mindset, while implementing review comments. We should be making a note of the intention behind the review comment, and place it in coding guidelines document, which can be referred by everyone and in future as well, so as to avoid getting same kind of review comment again in future.
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