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Comment by Mageek | Hacker News Reader

This is a great list - thank you. I learned a long time ago to not use “you” or similar in code reviews, as it is too easy to associate a critique of code with a critique of the coder. Changing “You should change this” to “This should be changed” or even “We should change this” can make a world of difference.

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Yes, the "we" in place of "you" is a meaningful difference I've noticed in code reviews.

Having to participate in a development team has made me a bit of a nicer person, as my default reaction is to blame. But that's completely inappropriate.

The power of "we" in not just Code Reviews but in Architecture, Design, and even Mentoring is quite strong in my experience.

It sounds like "this one trick" but it truly is that effective.

One problem with "we" is when you work with people who aren't yet used to american corporatisms. You say "We should change this" and it doesn't get changed because you assumed they'll understand that you meant they should change it. But they think you just offered to change it for them and sit back waiting for you to do what you said you would.

Lol that's pretty funny to view as a cultural difference.. in my experiences it's mostly unwillingness to take responsibility.

Not so much a cultural difference as a language barrier. “We” is unclear. It diffuses responsibility. Makes it easy for everyone to think someone else is owning $thing.

Agree very much on this. Try to talk about the code, not the person writing the code. Talk about the code has errors, not that the programmer made an error writing the code.

This: Returning a string from this method is an error because ...

vs: You made an error by returning a string from this method because ...

The second one is more likely to make people defensive, IMHO.

I would never use "this should be changed", that would trigger 99% of devs with the same seniority.

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