- Delayed Feature Releases: When code reviews take too long, the development process slows down, leading to delayed feature releases. Even small delays in reviewing can push back the timeline for delivering new functionalities, which impacts the team's ability to meet deadlines and satisfy stakeholders' expectations.
- Reduced Developer Efficiency:Developers submitting PRs are forced to wait for feedback, stalling their progress on other tasks. Without timely reviews, developers often need to revisit code they wrote days earlier, which interrupts their workflow and makes it harder to stay productive. This also adds cognitive load, as developers have to re-familiarize themselves with the context of the code after long delays.
- Blocked Collaboration:In agile teams, quick feedback loops are essential for continuous improvement and collaboration. When a single team member slows down code reviews, it can lead to frustration and discourage collaboration, especially when other developers feel they are waiting unnecessarily. This bottleneck can negatively impact team morale and cohesion over time.
- Accumulation of Technical Debt:Slow code reviews can result in longer-lived branches that increase the risk of conflicts and integration issues. The longer code sits unreviewed, the more it can drift from the main branch, leading to complex merges or outdated code that requires rework. This contributes to technical debt and makes the codebase harder to maintain.