4 steps to a simpler Pull Request process

Automate notifications to close communication gaps and take manual reminders off your plate.

Engineering · 4 min read
Sick of bothering your team for a pull request review...again? A better work-world is possible thanks to Packs, Coda’s way to seamlessly integrate third-party tools into your workflow. By connecting GitHub and Slack to Coda, you can automate PR review request notifications—and take those bothersome follow-ups off your plate. You’ll get quicker PR reviews, accelerate your velocity, and improve coordination and collaboration with your team.
I liked having set times to be reminded and to take a look at reviews — it reinforces that everyone should be pitching in on them each day, and removes any guilt from constantly needing to nag teammates. Having reminders at the start and ends of the days helped me do my reviews at times that were less disruptive to my core flow-state working hours.
Zack Aman
Software Engineer at Coda
Copy the template to get started quickly (or use it as inspiration to build your own solution!), then complete your setup with these four quick steps:

1. Connect your Slack account to close communication gaps.

When you copy the template, you’ll be prompted to connect your Slack account. This is how we’ll automate notifications—and free up your valuable time for making progress, not sending reminders.
Not a Slack user or want to connect to a different tool for sending notifications? You can skip this step—we’ll walk through adjusting the notification type below.

2. Connect your GitHub account to sync your data.

Similarly, you’ll be prompted to connect to GitHub when you dig into the template. Your GitHub information will be synced and up to date within Coda, so you can close out of extra apps and tabs. To customize the sync settings of the pull requests table from GitHub, select Options in the right corner of the pull requests table (to the left of the table search function), then click GitHub Pull requests. This table pulls all of your repository’s open pull requests. After you add your team in the next step, the table filters the repository to show only your team and where your team is requested.

3. Bring in your team.

Time to make the doc your own! Add your team’s information, and let Coda handle the communication minutiae. Clear the sample team members from the Team Handles table and add in yours—just be sure to include both their Slack handle and GitHub handle to make the connection smooth. If you’re not using Slack to send notifications, then each team member’s username in your chosen tool or Coda profile will suffice.

4. Set up notification details.

Every team runs differently, and now you can create an automated notification cadence that works the way your team does. To customize the automated messages, click the Gear ⚙️ in the right corner of your doc and navigate to Automations. Open up the Slack PR Review Reminder automation details to set the time(s) you’d like your Slack reminders to send and the channel to which they’ll be sent. If you’d like, you can edit the Slack message in the Notification Message formula at the bottom of your doc. Once your automation is set up as you’d like, make sure to toggle it on!

Not a Slack user?

No problem! You can change the automation to send as a Coda notification or use a Pack of your choosing to send the notification to another tool.

You’re a click away from a more organized workday.

Now you’re all set to get to work! Reducing your manual work, that is—your time is too valuable to waste sending reminders. Bring your tools and your team into the same unified space, and say goodbye to tedious follow-ups and forgotten tasks. Copy the template when you’re ready to get started.

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