Comparing Pre Commit Reviews and Post Commit Reviews Using Process Simulation

Abstract

Previous studies found that two variations of change-based code review are used in in- dustry: Pre commit review and post commit review. Which one is better in a given situation is not obvious. So we asked: Are there practically relevant performance differences between pre and post commit reviews? How are these differences influenced by contextual factors? To assess these ques- tions, we designed and validated a parametric discrete event simulation model of certain agile devel- opment processes. Our analysis indicates that the best choice does depend on the context, but also that there are many situations with no practically relevant difference between both choices. We iden- tified the main influencing factors and underlying effects and condensed our findings into heuristic rules.