{"id":9971,"date":"2021-02-10T17:14:20","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T17:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vmaker.com\/blog\/?p=9971"},"modified":"2024-04-02T18:45:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T18:45:20","slug":"5-reasons-why-you-should-use-a-screen-recording-app-for-code-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vmaker.com\/blog\/5-reasons-why-you-should-use-a-screen-recording-app-for-code-review\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons Why You Should Use a Screen Recording App For Code Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

A developer spends 5 hours per week<\/strong><\/a> reviewing code. That\u2019s like 12.5% of a week.

This is not a bad thing. In fact, reviewing code is one of the most prime responsibilities of senior developers in IT companies. As a fact-check, look at the responsibilities column of this job description template<\/strong> for the role of a senior developer.

Code review is an excellent practice as the entire team works together to find typos<\/em> and the biggest nemesis of a developer, bugs<\/em>. This activity ensures that quality is maintained, the findings are well documented, and the product works well.

For every developer who writes code, and gets it reviewed, this is an important milestone in their journey as a software engineer. In a typical environment, code review is done by a team of developers who are not from the same project. This means the code writer has a fresh perspective on what mistakes they\u2019re committing, and what areas they\u2019re overlooking. The learning is maximum here as there are so many opportunities to collaborate, share ideas, and absorb new techniques from the other teams.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Giving code review feedback<\/h2><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\"Code
Code Reviews can be sometime boring
Image source: Reddit<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While we did find a lot of content on the best practices<\/strong> for code review, we were not very impressed when we searched for different communication tools for sharing code review feedback with the team. 

We figured that not much thought is put on the \u201d how\u201d part of communicating code review feedback to the peer. Being a regular practice, it\u2019s been followed as a custom from one generation of developers to another.

The purpose of this article is not to attack or challenge the custom, but to try to bring a change positively. Currently, most of the feedback is shared with the help of emails, screenshots, online meetings, chat and phone calls. This covers the entire list of communication tools that you can think of for communicating code review feedback. However, they all have a gray side to themselves.

Emails<\/strong> – Can get too long (or short), and not very personal in nature

Screenshots<\/strong> – Just static images, not very interactive

Chat<\/strong> – Asynchronous, and a lot of time is spent on going back and forth<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Meetings and calls<\/strong> – Synchronous, and tiring as it can go on for a longer duration

To fill in the gaps created by these tools, screen recording can be a great option for sharing code review feedback. With asynchronous tools like emails and chats, you can show more instead of typing a series of lines and paragraphs. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Screen sharing is also a great alternative for limiting the number of phone calls and meetings. You can discuss more critical errors in a synchronous manner, and for the rest you can share a screen recording session. This combination will ensure that the most urgent work gets done immediately without dragging it for too long.

Alright let\u2019s take it ahead from here and learn more about the benefits of using a screen recording app for sharing code review feedback.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Keep it personal<\/h2><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\"Personal
Photo by\u00a0mentatdgt\u00a0from Pexels<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As a kid, we often ran around the house enthusiastically to show everyone our latest creative pursuit. We did this to get their personal attention and feedback because that was a huge boost for us. As an adult, we still long for that intrinsic boost. In a workplace, 98% of the employees<\/strong><\/a> admitted that they will feel disengaged if the manager gives no or very little feedback.

If feedback is so crucial, sharing it via email, chat or screenshots takes away the personal attention. As an example, in an email other than the name of the receiver, you can\u2019t do much personalization. Typing a lot of words is a pain for the reviewer as well as for the code writer. With a screen recording tool<\/a><\/strong>, you can share your screen to show your feedback, and talk along with it. This is excellent for the employee because they can hear you and see your feedback. It\u2019s almost like having a personal meeting in an asynchronous way.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Create instructional videos<\/h2><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Photo by Athena<\/a><\/strong> from Pexels<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With screen recording, you can go further than using it only for sharing code reviews. Considering the simplicity of creating videos with a screen recording app<\/strong>, you can show your screen for sharing the best practices for documentation, snippets of knowledge about code architecture, and how to create debug flows.This is great for knowledge sharing, and  for avoiding future hindrances.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Now, imagine doing all the above over a call or via email. It\u2019s not only daunting, but also very discouraging in nature.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Build a dedicated library<\/h2><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Library GIF<\/a> from Library GIFs<\/a><\/div>