How to Speed Up Pull Requests: 5 Tactics for Faster Reviews

Pull requests are the lifeblood of modern engineering teams. They keep quality high, catch bugs early, and make collaboration possible.

But too often, PRs just… sit there. Waiting. Days go by, no review. The author loses context, momentum disappears, and when feedback finally arrives, it takes twice as long to act on it. Deadlines drift, features slip, and frustration grows.

One VP of Engineering put it simply: “We don’t miss deadlines because engineers are slow at coding. We miss them because no one reviews fast enough.”

As teams grow, this bottleneck gets worse. PR cycle time (open → merge) quietly becomes a tax on your entire delivery pipeline. The good news? It’s absolutely solvable.

Why PRs Get Stuck in Limbo

It usually comes down to the same culprits:

• PRs are too big, so reviewers avoid them.

• Senior engineers do most of the reviews, while juniors rarely touch them.

• No clear expectations, so reviews get pushed down the priority list.

• A culture that treats reviews as “whenever I get to it.”

The result? A large PR lands on an already overloaded reviewer → no SLA to nudge anyone → feedback arrives days later → the author has moved on. Multiply that across dozens of PRs, and velocity suffers.

Five Ways to Fix PR Cycle Time

High-performing teams know the trick: combine process tweaks with cultural reinforcement. Here’s what works:

1. Keep PRs Small and Digestible

• Big PRs = big delays. Reviewers procrastinate.

• Smaller PRs (under ~400 lines) get reviewed faster, spot issues earlier, and ship smoother.

• Encourage frequent merges. Don’t wait until everything is bundled together.

2. Set Clear Review SLAs

• Most slowdowns come from waiting, not code quality.

• Define expectations, such as: “Every PR gets feedback within 24 hours.”

• Make them visible — in standups, retros, and dashboards.

• If SLAs are consistently slipping, it’s usually a workload or process issue.

3. Spread the Review Load

• If only seniors review, you get burnout and bottlenecks.

• Rotate assignments or automate distribution.

• Try “pair reviews” (senior + junior) to balance load and grow skills.

4. Build a Fast-Feedback Culture

• Tight loops matter. Fresh context makes reviews faster and more effective.

• Promote a review-first mindset: check PRs before starting new work.

• Recognize and highlight fast, thoughtful reviewers in retrospectives.

5. Measure What Matters (Not Vanity Metrics)

• Skip commit counts and PR-closed dashboards — they don’t solve delays.

• Track meaningful signals like:

  • Average PR cycle time

  • Time to first review

  • Where PRs get stuck

• Avoid micromanaging individuals. Metrics should guide improvement, not surveillance.

Where Panto Comes In

All of this sounds great, but let’s be honest — sticking to these practices is hard without visibility. That’s where Panto makes the difference.

Instead of overwhelming teams with noisy dashboards, Panto surfaces what actually matters:

• Daily digests of PRs most at risk of delay

• Workload imbalances across reviewers

• SLAs that are being missed

By connecting with GitHub and Jira, Panto consolidates scattered signals into one clear view. Leaders see the bigger picture without micromanaging, while developers benefit from smoother, faster feedback loops.

The Bottom Line

This isn’t about coding faster. It’s about removing the hidden barriers that slow collaboration and drain energy.

Teams that fix PR cycle time early deliver features faster, avoid developer burnout, and build a culture of trust and continuous improvement.

Pull requests will always be central to collaboration. With the right practices — and clarity from Panto — they can also become a driver of speed and momentum for your team.