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Code review was pretty rare until Github launched in 2008 and made it very easy to add to your process.

I honestly didn't see as much improvement in code quality as people assume. Friends approve their friends PRs. Most coding cultures really push back on refusing a PR.

Automated testing in CI was the much bigger improvement, at least the code compiles now.

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The people I always loved working with most were the ones that were relentless in their PRs. But I understand it's a culture that's difficult to achieve. For one thing, I think it needs teams that are relatively stable long-term. It can be challenging for people to not see professional criticism like that as personal attacks. Much easier if you know and have a feel for the people you work with, and you go have lunch together after the disagreements in the PR. Everybody benefits, including the customer, but it's a work environment that's increasingly more difficult to maintain.

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