Rubber Stamping is the process by which an engineer approves their colleague’s PR without giving it a substantial review.

When

• Senior submitter has a Reviewer that trusts that the work is good enough
• Someone doesn’t value code review
• People running out of time

Benefits of code review:

• Improved code quality,
• Better knowledge transfer
• Opportunities for mentorship
• Better solutions

WHAT TO DO

Reviewing other people’s work is a part of professional software developer duty.

Rubber Stamping often occurs in environments where the review process is given little attention or recognition;

Making leadership praise code reviews make developers align with those code reviews expectations.

On an individual level, it can be helpful to coach team members on what substantial reviews look like in practice by showing examples from others on their team.

Try deconstructing the feedback together in a 1:1, so engineers leave the meeting with a framework they can use moving forward. 

If there are specific engineers who are frequently given less review,

take into consideration how they’re responding to any feedback in the process, how large their PRs are, or the time at which their PRs are submitted.