Your code review process catches misnamed variables, missing error handling, and style inconsistencies. It misses the fact that the PR changes a function called by 7 services, one of which has a null check that will now fail.
The first category of bugs is annoying. The second causes production incidents at 2 AM.
What Code Reviews Actually Catch
Studies show code reviews are effective at catching:
- Style and formatting issues (95% catch rate)
- Simple logical errors (70% catch rate)
- Missing edge case handling (60% catch rate)
And ineffective at catching: