2019-09-06 02:48:38 +08:00
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# Emergencies
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Sometimes there are emergency CLs that must pass through the entire code review
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process as quickly as
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possible.
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2019-09-06 03:18:00 +08:00
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2019-09-06 02:48:38 +08:00
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## What Is An Emergency? {#what}
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An emergency CL would be a **small** change that: allows a major launch to
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continue instead of rolling back, fixes a bug significantly affecting users in
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production, handles a pressing legal issue, closes a major security hole, etc.
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In emergencies we really do care about the speed of the entire code review
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process, not just the [speed of response](reviewer/speed.md). In this case
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*only*, the reviewer should care more about the speed of the review and the
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correctness of the code (does it actually resolve the emergency?) than anything
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else. Also (perhaps obviously) such reviews should take priority over all other
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code reviews, when they come up.
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However, after the emergency is resolved you should look over the emergency CLs
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again and give them a [more thorough review](reviewer/looking-for.md).
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## What Is Not An Emergency? {#not}
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To be clear, the following cases are *not* an emergency:
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- Wanting to launch this week rather than next week (unless there is some
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actual [hard deadline](#deadlines) for launch such as a partner agreement).
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- The developer has worked on a feature for a very long time and they really
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want to get the CL in.
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- The reviewers are all in another timezone where it is currently nighttime or
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they are away on an off-site.
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- It is the end of the day on a Friday and it would just be great to get this
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CL in before the developer leaves for the weekend.
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- A manager says that this review has to be complete and the CL checked in
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today because of a [soft (not hard) deadline](#deadlines).
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- Rolling back a CL that is causing test failures or build breakages.
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And so on.
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## What Is a Hard Deadline? {#deadlines}
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A hard deadline is one where **something disastrous would happen** if you miss
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it. For example:
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- Submitting your CL by a certain date is necessary for a contractual
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obligation.
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- Your product will completely fail in the marketplace if not released by a
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certain date.
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2019-09-06 07:02:37 +08:00
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- Some hardware manufacturers only ship new hardware once a year. If you miss
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2019-09-06 02:48:38 +08:00
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the deadline to submit code to them, that could be disastrous, depending on
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what type of code you’re trying to ship.
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Delaying a release for a week is not disastrous. Missing an important conference
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might be disastrous, but often is not.
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Most deadlines are soft deadlines, not hard deadlines. They represent a desire
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for a feature to be done by a certain time. They are important, but you
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shouldn’t be sacrificing code health to make them.
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If you have a long release cycle (several weeks) it can be tempting to sacrifice
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code review quality to get a feature in before the next cycle. However, this
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pattern, if repeated, is a common way for projects to build up overwhelming
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technical debt. If developers are routinely submitting CLs near the end of the
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cycle that "must get in" with only superficial review, then the team should
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modify its process so that large feature changes happen early in the cycle and
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have enough time for good review.
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