Improving team velocity through better pull request practices

Pull requests (PRs) are essential for accelerating software development cycles, but they can become bottlenecks if not managed effectively. DevApp Inc., a fictional company, faced challenges with their PR processes, including delays, superficial reviews, and merge conflicts. They implemented several strategies to enhance their workflow: standardizing PR descriptions, keeping PRs small and focused, fostering collaborative code reviews, using checklist-driven reviews, adopting dedicated code review tools like Graphite, defining SLAs for PR turnaround, and automating testing pre-merge. These improvements, aided by Graphite's integration with GitHub, allowed DevApp Inc. to streamline their development process and increase productivity without compromising quality. By addressing bottlenecks and improving collaboration, DevApp Inc. saw significant gains in development velocity, illustrating how targeted enhancements in PR management can benefit software teams.