By Priya Shankar
Most product managers skip code review. That's a mistake.
You don't need to understand implementation. You need to understand how code review affects your timeline.
Code review is where quality decisions get made. Those decisions directly impact your roadmap.
Why Code Review Matters to PMs
Code review prevents bugs from reaching production. But more importantly, it's how teams maintain quality standards.
When code review is weak, bugs increase and refactoring becomes harder. That slowness shows up 6-12 months later when features that should take 2 weeks take 4.
Strong code review upfront prevents that collapse.
What Slows Down Code Review
Ambiguous requirements. Code doesn't match spec. Reviewer challenges it. Three back-and-forths later, you've lost hours.
Large PRs. A 500-line PR takes 45 minutes. A 50-line PR takes 5 minutes.
No automated checks. Reviewers spend time on formatting, linting, typing errors instead of logic.
Unclear code. Code that's hard to understand takes longer to review.
As a PM, you influence three of these factors.
How to Improve Code Review
Write specific requirements. "User can update profile" is vague. "User can update name, email, avatar simultaneously, with validation preventing empty names" is clear. Clear specs reduce review cycles.
Encourage small PRs. Decompose features into smaller PRs. Instead of one 800-line feature, ship 5 PRs of 50-100 lines. Each gets solid review.
Invest in automation. Linters, type checkers, and automated testing eliminate entire categories of review issues. This accelerates review by 30-40%.
Measure review metrics. Review cycle time, approval rate, post-review defect rate. These show you whether code review is working.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do we know if our code review process is working?
Three signals: (1) Review cycle time < 2 hours, (2) Post-review defect rate < 5%, (3) Engineers don't complain about bottlenecks.
Q: What's the right size for a code review?
50-100 lines is ideal. 300+ lines is too much and gets lower quality review.