In fast-paced tech environments, then tension between engineering and product teams is almost inevitable. Product wants features yesterday, and engineering wants to fix foundational issues that have been ignored for months. One side speaks in terms of customer value and roadmaps. The other talks about latency, scalability, and technical debt. Both are right. The Classic Tensions This situation is classic–a product manager requests a new feature, but the engineering team is knee-deep in resolving critical bugs or refactoring outdated code.

Code reviews are a key process that ensures the long-term health of a codebase and the growth of engineering teams. Over the years, I’ve refined a consistent, structured approach to code reviews that balances pragmatism with quality. Here’s how I approach reviewing code as a senior software engineer and tech lead. 1. Start with Understanding the Problem Before diving into the code, I take a step back to understand what problem the code is trying to solve.

This was recently a topic of discussion I had along with other engineering leads. I reflected back on my own experience because I remember how early in my career, software estimation would cause stress, anxiety, and worry. I knew how to do the work, but the uncertainty tied to this was a challenge. The truth is that software estimation is hard, often imprecise, and sometimes wildly off. And yet, it’s a necessary part of planning.