---
title: "A Guide to Mindful Communication in Code Reviews"
description: "Code reviews are presented as both technical work and communication, teaching, and learning. The guide defines mindful communication as listening and speaking with compassion, kindness, and self-awareness, then applies that perspective to reviewers and authors. It recommends self-checking before commenting, asking open questions instead of assuming, omitting linter-detectable nits, signaling what can wait, giving example code and documentation, and ending substantial feedback with “What do you think?” Reviewers are encouraged to approve unless major problems exist, while large changes and architectural decisions should receive broader discussion. Authors should link relevant documentation, assume good intent unless feedback is hostile, keep diffs focused, and seek feedback early; these practices take time but can become a learnable habit that varies by team."
---

# A Guide to Mindful Communication in Code Reviews

[Kickstarter](https://yomu.fyi/company/kickstarter) · Amy Ciavolino · Jul 25, 2018

**Type:** Tutorial

## Summary

Code reviews are presented as both technical work and communication, teaching, and learning. The guide defines mindful communication as listening and speaking with compassion, kindness, and self-awareness, then applies that perspective to reviewers and authors. It recommends self-checking before commenting, asking open questions instead of assuming, omitting linter-detectable nits, signaling what can wait, giving example code and documentation, and ending substantial feedback with “What do you think?” Reviewers are encouraged to approve unless major problems exist, while large changes and architectural decisions should receive broader discussion. Authors should link relevant documentation, assume good intent unless feedback is hostile, keep diffs focused, and seek feedback early; these practices take time but can become a learnable habit that varies by team.

## Context

Code reviews are described as a core part of software engineering and as a form of communication, teaching, and learning. The guide addresses the difficulty of giving kind, considered feedback when people are tired, rushed, frustrated, or working within a power imbalance, and notes that architectural decisions are not usually best resolved during review.

## Approach / What changed

The guide applies mindful communication—compassionate listening, self-awareness, and letting go of a predetermined outcome—to code reviews. It recommends self-check-ins, open questions, avoiding unnecessary nits, distinguishing later improvements from blocking issues, giving example code, linking documentation, asking for the author's perspective, keeping diffs focused, assuming good intent, and getting feedback early.

## Takeaways

- Reviewers are encouraged to ask why an author chose an approach and use open questions rather than declaring the code wrong.
- Comments that a linter could catch should generally be omitted, and nonessential improvements can be deferred to a later or follow-up change.
- Large changes and architectural decisions warrant broader conversations than a code review, while focused diffs and early feedback can reduce review stress.

**Tags:** [Code Review](https://yomu.fyi/topic/code-review), [Developer Experience](https://yomu.fyi/topic/developer-experience)

- Source: [Kickstarter](https://medium.com/kickstarter-engineering/a-guide-to-mindful-communication-in-code-reviews-48aab5282e5e)
- Source URL: https://medium.com/kickstarter-engineering/a-guide-to-mindful-communication-in-code-reviews-48aab5282e5e
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-08-30T12:07:47.703Z

[Read original post](https://medium.com/kickstarter-engineering/a-guide-to-mindful-communication-in-code-reviews-48aab5282e5e)