Monthly Review

Code review is great. Architects should do Code review. However code review is pretty much focused on deltas. Which is not the whole story.

Code review happens in-cycle, meaning every week, every day, or pretty much every time a ticket/PR is done. We also need an off-cycle review.

As an architect, 1x per month or at least 1x per quarter you should look at the whole codebase. Why? Because then you are not looking at the deltas, you are looking at the whole picture and seeing the design.

Such practice is important to see:

• Architectural concept drift: Are we still following the intended architecture? Are there parts of the code that have diverged from the original design principles?
• Code quality trends: Is the overall code quality improving or deteriorating? Are there areas that need refactoring or technical debt reduction?
• Consistency: Are coding standards and best practices being followed consistently across the codebase?
• New patterns and anti-patterns: Are there new design patterns emerging that could be beneficial? Are there anti-patterns that need to be addressed?
• Testing Diversity: Is the test coverage adequate? Are there areas that lack sufficient testing? Do we need new forms of testing and induction?