Effective Code Reviews with Conventional Comments • Paul Slaughter & Adrienne Braganza

This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. https://gotopia.tech Read the full transcription of this interview here Paul Slaughter - Staff Fullstack Engineer at GitLab & Creator of Conventional Comments Adrienne Braganza Tacke - Senior Developer Advocate at Viam Robotics & Author of "Looks Good To Me: Constructive Code Reviews" RESOURCES Paul https://x.com/souldzin https://github.com/souldzin https://gitlab.com/pslaughter https://gitlab.com/souldzin https://souldzin.com Adrienne https://bsky.app/profile/abt.bsky.social https://x.com/AdrienneTacke https://github.com/AdrienneTacke https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriennetacke https://www.instagram.com/adriennetacke https://www.adrienne.io https://blog.adrienne.io Links https://conventionalcomments.org DESCRIPTION Can "Conventional Comments" transform code reviews from frustrating experiences into productive collaborations? Paul Slaughter shares his experience developing and practicing "Conventional Comments", a structured approach to improving code review communications through labeled feedback. The conversation explores clear communication patterns with labels (e.g. "suggestion:", "issue:" or "question:"). Paul and Adrienne discuss the importance of empathy in the review process, the balance between politeness and efficiency, and how GitLab"s Code Review Weekly Workshops have helped normalize review experiences across their remote teams. The interview highlights that effective code reviews depend not just on technical evaluations but on thoughtful communication that acknowledges developers" emotional investment in their work while fostering a culture of collaborative ownership. RECOMMENDED BOOKS Adrienne Braganza Tacke • "Looks Good to Me": Constructive Code Reviews Adrienne Braganza Tacke • Coding for Kids Grace Huang • Code Reviews in Tech Martin Fowler • Refactoring Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais • Team Topologies Dave Thomas & Andy Hunt • The Pragmatic Programmer Bluesky Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Facebook CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket: gotopia.tech SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL - new videos posted daily!