Code Health: Respectful Reviews == Useful Reviews
I agree with the premise. Workplaces are much more enjoyable when everyone is respectful, professional, and courteous to their peers.<p>Most of these guidelines are reasonable enough. I think it&#x27;s important to keep the DOs and DON&#x27;Ts list to the minimum, though. These interaction guidelines become counter-productive when they try to be all-encompassing definitions of good and bad interpersonal behavior.<p>I worked with one team who had an ever-expanding code of conduct. Each time they had a conflict, they tried to add rules to the CoC that they thought would prevent the conflict. Good intentions, but counter-productive execution. Three things happened:<p>1) New hires had to learn to navigate a minefield of obscure code of conduct rules. They tended to shutdown and socially isolate themselves for fear of accidentally triggering another obscure CoC issue, like including emojis in code reviews. The safest thing to do is only interact with close allies within the company, and minimize unnecessary interaction with anyone else. Silos.<p>2) The CoC became a tool for power plays. For a few bad apples, the CoC became a list of gotchas that they could use as a power play against others. At one point we had someone reading every Slack conversation and code review just to call out possible CoC violations (remember, this includes things like using emojis in code review) so they could call other people out on their violations. Substantiative conversations moved to private messages or in-person conversations. Not healthy. Partially solved by adding a CoC rule about minding your own business and explaining healthy ways to share the CoC with others.<p>3) Human interactions started to feel robotic, almost scripted. This one is harder to describe, but each interaction with someone in public or outside your close friend group started to feel like everyone was following a mental script for how our conversations could proceed. Conversations felt like a mental checklist of what was an acceptable way to discuss a differing opinion or answer a question without the possibility of stepping on anyone&#x27;s toes. It became draining in ways that I haven&#x27;t experienced since. It was a huge relief when I moved to another company where people were allowed to talk freely to each other, like professional adults.