I never “got” code reviews. I never understood how sitting around talking about somebody else’s code would help them or you, beyond being able to weed out the obviously awful coders.

This week I’ve been doing some consultancy, in-sourced to help a firm evaluate what their developers have built for them. As part of that process I’ve had to review documentation, specifications and code. The process has been at times confusing and enlightening.

It’s one thing to be able to say “this is how it should be done” when you’re not a developer, but it’s another thing when you are a developer who hasn’t done some of those things yourself. This process has taught me as much about myself and my own code as it has about these guys’ code.

Interestingly, I now see things from a buyer’s perspective much more clearly, and I can see how frustrating this must be from the other side. I can see how things which we don’t consider important are to a buyer critical. I can see how clever solutions can sometimes be too clever. I can see how something simple you forget to do can make all the difference.