I
M
A
G
E
B
Y
A
N
D
R
I
J
B
O
R
Y
S
A
S
S
O
C
I
A
T
E
S
/
S
H
U
T
T
E
R
S
T
O
C
K
there were already some tools in
place, so we just concentrated on de-
termining what we could do to make
improvements. First we wanted to
learn what we could from actual expe-
rience since you always want to start
with a foundation grounded in prac-
tice, as well as theory. So, we started
looking at any qualitative or quanti-
tative data we could get our hands on
that had to do with the code-review
tooling and process already in place
at Microsoft. That’s how we started
on this journey of trying to under-
stand where the process originated
and how it has evolved over time.
What are the factors that drove that
evolution? How is the process cur-
rently applied? How does it work
with open source? How does it work
within Microsoft? And what happens
when we find ourselves collaborating
with others?
LP: What did you end up initially fo-
cusing on?
CHRISTIAN BIRD: In general, we wanted
to find out what prompted people to
do code reviews in the first place. How
many people were usually involved?
What types of issues were being raised?
What was it that led people to make
changes? And what typically led people
not to make changes?
TERRY COATTA: Were the engineering
teams themselves pushing for this line
of inquiry? That is, were people com-
ing to you to say, “We’re sure spending
a lot of time with code reviews, but it
doesn’t seem like we’re getting all that
much out of it?”
CB: Mostly it was because this was
an area where the data was both plenti-
ful and readily available. With that be-
ing said, once people found out what
we were doing, they proved to be quite
receptive. It wasn’t like they wondered
why we were doing this research. In
fact, it was just the opposite. People
generally were very supportive of im-
proving the code-review process and, if
anything, said they wished it was treat-
ed as a first-class citizen. Also, many
were pretty excited to learn there was
data available they would be able to
track themselves.

LP: Once people engaged with you and told you what they thought was