> Every team I've been on has had a mix of developers, some of whom are responsive to doing code reviews and will pick them up and process them quickly.
Rubber-stamping is not really "reviewing" though.
And leaving a comment "I don't have enough info to review this properly" is a valid review as well. It signals that somebody else needs to pick it up.
> I fear that compounding that by layering on another obligation to the star team members would further push them out.
I get it, but I don't see an alternative.
1. the company culture must value reviews as work, probably even more important than coding
2. the reviewers must be allowed to respond with "I don't feel comfortable reviewing this because I don't have enough context"
Rubber-stamping is not really "reviewing" though.
And leaving a comment "I don't have enough info to review this properly" is a valid review as well. It signals that somebody else needs to pick it up.
> I fear that compounding that by layering on another obligation to the star team members would further push them out.
I get it, but I don't see an alternative.
1. the company culture must value reviews as work, probably even more important than coding
2. the reviewers must be allowed to respond with "I don't feel comfortable reviewing this because I don't have enough context"