Code review: How satisfied are development teams?

Code review remains the biggest influence on improving code quality with unit testing a distant second, a SmartBear survey reveals. With development teams getting larger and remaining remote, a tool-based code review process offers the best advantage, as indicated by 80% of satisfied respondents.

“As development teams are releasing more frequently than ever, consistent review of code and other artifacts continues to play a vital part in teams’ ability to release quality software, share knowledge, and educate team members,” said Joanna Schloss, SVP of Product Marketing at SmartBear.

Some of the report’s highlights include:

• 37% of respondents report a team greater than 10 members, compared to 30% in 2020 and 31% in 2019.
• 47% of those unsatisfied with their code review process are neglecting tool-based code review entirely.
• 43% of respondents are delivering on a biweekly basis or sooner.
• 55% of respondents who are satisfied or highly satisfied with their code review process regularly pull metrics reports. 82% of satisfied and highly satisfied respondents have clear guidelines for their code review process.

Survey findings are based on aggregated responses from software developers, testers, IT/operations professionals, and business leaders across 20 different industries. Participants work at companies ranging from fewer than 25 employees to over 10,000 and have software teams ranging from fewer than five to more than 50.