Review document

A review's reader has one question: what do I do now? Answer it in the first two lines, then give each finding just enough evidence that the reader trusts it without redoing your work. This skill organizes findings you already have; finding them is the review itself.

Length is the usual failure. A reader who has to dig through praise, process, and restated findings misses the one that blocks the merge. Every line below the verdict either supports a finding or says what you didn't check.

1. Decide the verdict

Pick one: approve, approve with changes, request changes, or blocked on a named thing. Under it, write the reason in one sentence that names the finding behind it.

Done when someone who reads only the verdict knows what to do.

2. Keep the findings that change the decision

• Keep a finding when fixing it, or not, changes what the reader should do.
• Merge findings with one root cause into one, and list every place it appears.
• Rank each one: blocking (wrong results, lost data, a security hole, broken for users), should fix (a real cost that can wait), or nit, only when the reader asked for them.

Order them blocking first. Done when every finding has a rank and no two share a cause.