I wanted to take some time to compare and contrast the different ideas of code reviews and merge (or pull) requests.
Code reviews and merge requests seem to have different connotations. A code review seems to be more defensive, where you are putting your code out there saying “hey, I think this is good, what do you think?”. If you actually still have meetings for code reviews, and not just do it all virtually, the person that wrote the code under review usually does act very defensive. It takes practice to both give good advice without (at least perceived) undue harshness, and also to receive critiques without taking them as personal attacks. A merge request seems less personal. The request seems to be more of a “hey, you guys are the experts, so what do you say about this approach?” Critiques seem to be taken more against the code itself, rather than the author.
Although both are meant to do the same things, I think these subtle differences need to be kept in mind, and perhaps guarded against to keep both code reviews and merge requests beneficial.
Originally Posted on my Blogger site July of 2017