Benefits and Results
Whirlpool code reviews have become much more streamlined since deploying Collaborator, a stark contrast to previously when code reviews used to be cumbersome. “With Collaborator, the entire team can smoothly interact on multiple projects, even if one team member is working from India with others working from North America and Europe,” Tamboli says. “We no longer have to coordinate manual reviews involving spreadsheets and conference call at odd hours—each of us can communicate code review changes on our own time.”
With Collaborator seamlessly integrated with the source code repository, the Whirlpool software developer team communicates through a shared platform, and each team member can easily see changes applied to source code. Managers can also review activity to track the progress of reviews and subsequent changes applied as a result of the reviews.
“Everyone can see what is taking place across all of their code review projects,” Tamboli says. “There’s no need to coordinate discussions among people spread across the world.”
The reports that Collaborator generates allow Whirlpool to track whether or not any code issues have been resolved. “Making sure code reviews take place properly is critical,” Tamboli says. “Collaborator makes it much easier to know the status of reviews and if the code reviews are done right. We can also escalate any open issues.”
In addition to facilitating code reviews, Collaborator has also helped the developers become more efficient at code development. They have even started conducting self-reviews before sending to code to their peers for further review. The overall enhanced process has thus enabled Whirlpool to accelerate the overall development process and deliver software to market faster.
“Because our developers receive documented, detailed feedback driven by SmartBear Collaborator, they can more easily improve their skills,” Tamboli says. “They can also see comments from previous development projects. So over time, we thus find fewer code issues. Ultimately, this results in better-performing appliances for our customers—a major factor in the company’s success.”
Conclusion
To coordinate code reviews among 150 electronic software engineers spread across the globe—so they can efficiently identify software bugs before code is embedded into appliance control panels and shipped to customers—Whirlpool turned to SmartBear’s peer code review tool, Collaborator. The solution helps the software development team work together to produce high-quality code. This accelerates the overall development process and delivers software to market faster while also resulting in better-performing appliances for Whirlpool customers.
Business Challenges
- Coordinate code reviews among 150 software engineers spread across the globe.
- Identify software bugs before code is embedded into appliances and shipped to customers.
- Create a database where code review issues can be tracked by any team member to resolve bugs as quickly as possible.
SmartBear Collaborator Solution
- Allows developers to peer review code in a transparent, collaborative framework
- Keeps the team up-to-speed in real time on code changes.
- Integrates easily with software code repositories.
- Requires no special training.
Measurable Results
- Enables software developers across the globe to interact with each other on multiple projects on their own time.
- Allows developers to easily see changes applied to source code.
- Permits managers to track the progress of code reviews.
- Helps developers become more efficient at code development, which accelerates the development process and delivers software to market faster.
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