AI without the BS and code reviews

An excellent keynote video on AI with some great hands on demos and a study backing up what makes code reviews useful.

Keynote: AI without the BS, for humans [Video]

Some really nice demos on how generative AI works and its limitations - and Scott Hanselman is a brilliant speaker.

What makes a code review useful?

Interesting results from a study on effective code reviews. Nothing especially groundbreaking but nice to know the study backs them up. The specific details they noticed are:

  • Experience matters: Reviewers who had previously worked on a file provided more useful feedback, with their comments being rated 74% useful compared to 60% useful for first-time reviewers.
  • Comment density drops in large reviews: The more files in a change, the lower the proportion of useful comments— suggesting that small, focused changes improve review quality.
  • New hires show an improvement curve: Reviewers’ usefulness improves dramatically in their first year but plateaus afterward.
  • Certain types of comments are more useful: Comments identifying functional defects or validation gaps were rated over 80% useful, while vague questions and generic praise were deemed useful less than 50% of the time.
  • Psychological safety improves effectiveness: Developers were more likely to leave critical and useful feedback in teams with open, supportive cultures.

Random Posts

Twitter to Mastodon
  • February 3, 2023

It definitely feels like Twitter is slowly dying.

I have used Twitter for years, definitely more as a consumer than a publisher. During this time I have refined the accounts I follow to provide a clean and useful stream of information. This was aided by the use of Flamingo as my client of choice which provided a feed free of adverts and cruft.


Read More
Stay in the game
  • November 18, 2024

In a recent interview Mo Salah shared some advice he received from the ex-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that has stuck with him.


Read More
The little things in films can make a big difference
  • January 30, 2018

I listen to a lot of podcasts (probably 500+ a year) and one I make an extra effort to listen to every episode is 99% Invisible. It is “about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world.”


Read More