Tech Lead interview question · Most asked
How do you keep code reviews fast without lowering quality?
Summary
Agree that reviews come before new work, with a first response within hours and never more than one business day; keep pull requests small; let any trained engineer approve outside high-risk areas; automate style; and label comments by severity.
Longer Answer
Slow reviews create a loop: authors batch work into large PRs to avoid waiting, large PRs get shallow reviews, and reviews get slower. Google's public review guide says one business day is the maximum time to respond. Remove single-person gates, reserve required reviewers for areas like ledgers, auth and migrations, and focus reviews on correctness, design, tests and security. Track time to first review as a team metric.
Key Points
- Response within hours; max one business day
- Small PRs; shared reviewing
- Automate style; label blocking vs nit
Deep dive: Code Review Standards and Speed
Explanation
What interviewers look for
Understanding of the speed–quality relationship and concrete team agreements.
Red flags
- Lead approves everything
- Treating review speed as a personal discipline problem only
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