Philippines staffing research ·
What code review queue data can and cannot tell an outsourced team
A source-led method for measuring review delay without turning response time into a developer score.
A pull request can wait because its submission is incomplete, its reviewer is unavailable, or the change needs a product decision. One elapsed-time number hides those different causes.
GitHub documents reviews as comments, approvals, and requests for changes. DORA research treats delivery as a system. Together, those sources support measuring state changes and ownership rather than watching whether a remote programmer appears online.
Record when the author says the change is ready, whether required checks and context are present, when a named reviewer first acts, and when the author responds. Classify a returned submission separately from a complete submission waiting in the queue.
Use medians and an upper percentile with the number of reviewed changes. Split urgent fixes from ordinary work. A small sample, mixed risk levels, or missing timestamps limits any conclusion.
The data may reveal unclear ownership, missing evidence, or reviewer capacity. It cannot establish individual effort, code quality, or intent on its own.
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FAQ
What should happen first?
Begin with a bounded ticket, approved access, and a named reviewer.
Who approves production changes?
The company’s technical owner keeps final merge and release authority.