Company
Date Published
Author
Sara Verdi
Word count
984
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

Distributed teams face challenges with code reviews due to time zone differences, leading to productivity issues as developers wait for feedback on pull requests (PRs). Traditional workflows, such as Gitflow, exacerbate this by limiting developers to one PR at a time, causing delays and inefficiencies. The stacked PRs workflow offers a solution by allowing developers to create a series of smaller, logically separated PRs that can be worked on simultaneously, improving both development and review processes. This approach reduces waiting times, minimizes merge conflicts, and improves visibility and dependency management, enabling continuous work across different time zones. Tools like Graphite facilitate this process by automating the application of changes across stacked PRs, enhancing productivity and efficiency. Companies such as Meta, Google, and Uber have successfully implemented stacked PR workflows, demonstrating significant time savings and improved code review quality. For teams considering this method, adopting the right tools and educating team members on the stacking workflow are crucial steps, with Graphite offering features like Merge Queue to automate and streamline the process.