The Benefits of Co-creation // Beyond Coding Podcast #27 - Patrick Akil with Dragan Stepanović

Efficiency

The discussion highlights the impact of pull request (PR) sizes on team efficiency and throughput. Dragan Stepanović explains that smaller PRs, while promoting higher engagement and quality, can decrease system throughput due to increased wait times for reviews 1. He notes that as PR sizes decrease, the wait time per line of code increases exponentially, affecting flow efficiency 2. This creates a trade-off between speed and quality, as larger PRs allow for quicker changes but often result in lower quality due to delayed feedback 3.

The smaller pull request that you have, and if you keep the same way of working in async code review manner with pull requests, the throughput of the system goes down.

--- Dragan Stepanović

Pair and mob programming are suggested as solutions to maintain both high throughput and quality by eliminating wait times and providing immediate feedback.

   

Dynamics

Pull requests significantly influence team dynamics, particularly in terms of reviewer engagement and feedback loops. Patrick Akil and Dragan discuss how large PRs often lead to low engagement due to the overwhelming cognitive load and time required for reviews 4. Smaller PRs, while easier to manage, still suffer from asynchronous feedback delays, which can hinder the learning process and reduce psychological safety 5. Co-creation methods like pair programming enhance team dynamics by fostering immediate feedback and shared understanding, thus increasing psychological safety and accelerating knowledge sharing 6.

As a pull request, you just see the end result. You don't see any of the thinking steps that go in between any of the errors that were made.

--- Patrick Akil

This approach not only improves code quality but also strengthens team cohesion and collaboration.