[DL.CR.8] Designate code owners for expert review

Category: OPTIONAL

A code owners process assigns a designated owner, usually the person or team with the most knowledge or expertise, to each part of the code base. In a DevOps environment, this helps ensure that there is an expert reviewer available for specific or complex parts of the system at all times.

To implement a code owners process, determine who the code owners should be based on expertise and distribute the ownership equally amongst the team to avoid bottlenecks. You can use features in version control systems that automatically assign code owners to review code changes in their area of expertise. One example of this would be to use a CODEOWNERS file stored along with the code in the repository. This file defines individuals or teams that are responsible for code in a repository.

While this practice is optional and not beneficial for all organizations, it can be particularly useful for larger teams or those with complex, distributed systems as it provides an additional layer of control and can prevent potential issues from going unnoticed if all reviewers are not equally experienced with a specific or complex part of the code base.

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