Well Written Pull Requests

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2021-07-06 05:30:04

Writing better pull requests is one of the best improvements you can make as a software engineer. Well written pull requests create a smoother review process, help get your PRs merged faster and increase the level of trust and respect you earn from your team. This guide will present several easy to implement ideas that will help you write better pull requests.

A well-written pull request starts from the moment you start work on an issue. Create a new text file for every issue you start work on.

Keep notes as information is acquired. Otherwise, it’s easy to forget details when making the PR. These notes are not only helpful for creating the pull request, they also come in handy months later when someone across your code and has questions. Pulling up this file helps jog your memory quickly and can get you back into the mindset you had while working on the issue.

Commit often while working on an issue. Make a commit when you’ve accomplished something towards the issue’s goal, no matter how small. When it comes time to finishing off the ticket and making the PR, squash all those commits into one. Nobody wants to see 5 commits that say “fix typo” in the PR. Making one squashed commit helps provide a cleaner PR for people to review.

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