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I’m having trouble doing effective code reviews. Our team does informal, glance-over reviews of code before check-in, which works when you’re building on an established design, but I have trouble seeing how it works for scattered-out bits of code written by the seat of your pants.

As the CSS expert[1] on the team, it was my responsibility to create a cohesive CSS structure, and use code review to ensure that the devs were using it properly. The Right Thing would have been to identify common page elements up front so that the structure would be consistent everywhere and easy to use. (E.g., IDs versus classes, div vs p, hx vs span, borders vs hrs, padding vs brs, functional vs presentational class names, etc.)

But I’ve let that opportunity slip through my fingers. Partly due to factors beyond my control, the other devs had to proceed without the structure in place. So we have all these different ad hac[2] approaches to fixing this or that alignment problem on individual pages, all these random classes added to the CSS file. Let me emphasize that this is not the devs’ fault! They have done very well under the circumstances. But to achieve the desired level of quality, they would have had to do bottom-up redesign of something outside their area of expertise. I just don’t see how code reviews alone can provide adequate direction.

[I wanted to include an example here, but Blogger can't make up its mind how to process embedded HTML code -- whether to render my divs regardless of wrapping them in code tags; whether or not to expand my already spelled-out &s. (Argh, it did it again!)]

I’m very disappointed in myself, regardless of the causes. The CSS code has my imprimatur, has my name on it, and it’s not what I would have wanted. To fix it, we’d have to refactor the CSS file and then have everyone go back into the markup, changing class names and structural decisions. That ain’t gonna happen (unless we get permission to wind back the clock).

Anyway, back to the purported subject of this post. While looking for articles on code review in Agile methodologies, I happened upon this post which starts with a discussion of the male insistence on trying to navigate and drive simultaneously:

Thanks to these unexpected excursions, I have seen parts of the country side that I might otherwise have missed, but I have no idea where they were or how to get back there. [Hacknot: In Praise of Code Reviews]

The reluctance to stop and read the map is analogous to the reluctance to do code reviews:

This desire to minimize small, short-term pain even at the expense of significantly more pain in the long term is at the core of much self-defeating behavior.

I feel very lost indeed.

Well, after much reluctance, I have had an Ikea experience. Voluntarily and not at the behest of my mom. There was the same walking in circles and getting stuck behind slow-moving people that I remembered, but then I found the Work Area area — and within, the Object of Desire. In this case the Object of Desire was a metal computer desk with a price tag under $40 US. His name is Krister (say hello, Krister). The main selling point: not only is there plenty of room for the monitor, but you can actually tilt it backward so that you’re not craning your neck to look into the screen.

There’s room for my knees underneath, which was an unexpected bonus. Another plus is the fact that my cat doesn’t have enough room to jump up on the keyboard, so when he wants my attention, he just puts his claws in my leg. As though I were a scratching post. He does it as gently as he can, though.

It seemed odd that in the Seattle store there weren’t lots of Swedes wandering around like there were in Palo Alto. Then again, I never made it to the cafeteria

I now have 4 pieces of furniture: the desk, the swivel chair, the wide bookshelf, and a piece of the old desk that the movers didn’t break. It’s the side shelf that went under the desktop and is pretty handy. Chances are good that I’ll never put the other desk back together.

Some random thoughts:

• Never name your JavaScript onload handler onload().
• Proposed: ICR as standard net acronym for "I couldn’t resist."
  

  Example from Amazon internal mailing list:

  re: Recommendations for demolition
  http://www.hells-angels.com/
  (sorry, ICR)

• My uncle Mike’s website: ILResources.com – large body of information on independent living, disability, and senior care. He knows his stuff.

From the Key Bank privacy policy:

KeyCorp (“Key”) does not share customer information about you outside of the Key family of companies, except as permitted by law.

(Emphasis mine.) Well that’s reassuring. At least I know they’ll act in my best interests.