> Minimally, I would like context for the change, …
… the why is important
> IMO many software developers … don't have explanations to provide. People not taking the time is what makes reviews performative.
… a lot of developers only consider the how.
i’ve had a lot of experiences of “once my PR is submitted that’s my work/ticket finished” kind of attitude.
i spent a year mentoring some people in a gaming community to become dev team members. one of the first things i said about PRs was — a new PR is just your first draft, there is still more work to do.
it helped these folks were brand spanking new to development and weren’t sullied by some lazy teacher somewhere.
> … the why is important > … a lot of developers only consider the how.
The why is someone else's job, so the developers should just ask them for a blurb to put in the PR for context, along with a note to the reviewer to ask that person for even more context if necessary.
I think there's a why with regard to the code. Why this "how" and not some other "how". (Why did you pick this algorithm, this pattern, this solution to the bigger business why.)