Seven Reasons Why I Read My Team’s Pull Requests

Jen Hammond, an engineering manager at New Relic, discusses the insights she gains from reading her team's GitHub pull requests (PRs) and how these insights reflect on team health and collaboration. Initially surprising her team by reviewing their PRs, Hammond uses this practice not to micromanage but to maintain an understanding of the team's dynamics, code quality, and development practices. By analyzing PRs, she observes that her team maintains respectful communication, ensures clarity and readability, and consistently includes necessary testing and instrumentation in their code. This approach not only fosters a positive and productive engineering culture but also aligns with New Relic's values. Hammond emphasizes that these practices contribute to the team's ability to produce quality software efficiently and highlights the role of established engineering culture in achieving these outcomes.