LGTM: Designing a Great Developer Experience
Dani Raskovsky (Product Designer)
As a small startup, we move FAST. This often means that our team is working simultaneously on multiple features at the same time and changes get merged into production almost every day. As much as we use processes like standup to share progress, discuss priorities, and agree on what to focus on next, updates sometimes get lost. Changes that go live don't always get reviewed as quickly or as thoroughly as we hoped.
So we came up with a hypothesis: if we introduce a new feature in CodeYam itself that allows us to review latest changes with “Looks Good To Me” (LGTM) when they look good or to comment on those that need more attention for some reason, our feedback loops can become smoother and faster.
From Hypothesis to Reality
This hypothesis was tested just the other day when a developer on our team updated a feature with some UI changes I (the product designer) had designed – an update to a feature called the Environments page – and then quickly moved forward with their next to do.
While going into CodeYam itself to search for something else, I came across the updated version of this page and was happily surprised to see that this new update was already live, but also had some feedback to provide.
This is where LGTM/commenting first came to life, confirming our hypothesis about how this feature could enhance our team's workflows—and hopefully others' as well.
Instead of waiting until the following morning’s standup to share my comments and feedback, I searched in CodeYam for the latest simulations of this new feature and left my comment for our developer team to see (without me having to disrupt what they were doing).
Since the PR where they had added this component also included other changes, I went ahead and reviewed all of the other simulations that CodeYam had created for the new changes in our app. I marked as “Looks Good To Me” those that needed no further work, letting the team know they had nailed the changes.
LGTM is more than a thumbs-up button. It’s a deliberate, low-friction way for developers, designers, and team leads to collaborate on and test software changes, especially visual changes, and share insights without disrupting workflows.
We designed this feature to:
Keep feedback loops tighter, even when juggling multiple product changes.
Empower every team member, from developers to PMs, to contribute to reviewing a visual change without needing deep technical knowledge or help getting set up.
Bridge gaps between design and development by letting designers (and every team member) comment directly on code-based simulations, fostering conversations about subtle design decisions.
This helps teams avoid endless back-and-forth while boosting confidence in the quality of product changes. Developers spend less time interpreting product or design reviews and more time building, and their teammates can contribute meaningfully—making the entire software development and deployment process smoother.
Reimagining "Looks Good to Me" As an Efficient High-Value Signal
Historically, “LGTM” has somewhat of a reputation for being used by engineers to rubber-stamping changes without a proper review. At CodeYam, we want to reimagine LGTM to embody efficiency. If changes are marked as LGTM by any team member, the rest of the team can trust this signal, or choose to supplement it by reviewing the change themselves. If issues arise, commenting on simulations is an efficient way to add context or callout next steps.
This makes it less effortful for software teams to provide critical feedback or catch bugs as part of their existing development processes.
CodeYam Curious?
CodeYam is a software simulator that helps teams develop software more effectively, generating simulations for all functions and changes to functions as they come in. The simulations provide test coverage, help you understand how an application is evolving, and can be used for documentation, demos, and general collaboration. If you are interested in learning more please reach out at hello@codeyam.com or sign up for the waitlist.
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