Don’t let it be a rubber stamp.
Code reviews correct mistakes. A second (or third) set of eyes looking over your code may catch some areas of concern that you missed. This helps prevent bad code from being promoted forward, saving you rework later.
They also provide a nice way to share knowledge. The people doing the review can learn from you and the code you wrote. They learn more about the part of the business you’re working on. They learn the technical details of the new features and how they are implemented under the covers. They learn patterns and best practices that you put forth. This inspires them to do better in their own code.
Code reviews also provide a friendly environment for constructive criticism, which gives you a nice way to get advice from others on how to improve your own techniques.
Finally, code reviews make coding fun. Through collaboration we all get better because our friends make us better. This makes us all more awesome. And who doesn’t want to be more awesome?
Also try: pairing.
