Mistakes I see engineers making in their code reviews

Engineers commonly make five key mistakes during code reviews that reduce their effectiveness. Many reviewers focus only on the code changes shown in the diff, missing opportunities to provide feedback about how the code fits into the broader system architecture. Additionally, engineers often leave too many comments, creating overwhelming reviews where important issues get buried in minor stylistic suggestions, and they review code through a "how would I write this" lens rather than asking "will this work." Finally, many hesitate to use blocking reviews when necessary and tend to block changes too frequently instead of approving functional code.