📌 This post is one chapter in my Red Flags series. I’m exploring the mistakes, bad practices, and subtle issues we often overlook in day-to-day development. Stay tuned for upcoming posts!
When one pull request tries to do the work of an entire sprint
A pull request monster is born when a simple change starts collecting friends. A feature here, a refactor there, a quick rename, a small cleanup and suddenly the PR grows into something huge that nobody feels ready to review. It rarely happens on purpose. Someone wants to finish a task, adds a small fix, improves something that has bothered them for months and does a bit of restructuring “while I am here.” Before long, the PR touches dozens of files and feels massive, unfocused and unpredictable.
Here is where the real pain begins. A monster PR is exhausting to read. Reviewers cannot get through it in one sitting. Important details hide inside unrelated changes. Comments scatter in every direction. The author struggles to explain everything. The reviewer struggles to understand anything. In that confusion, bugs slip through quietly. Testing becomes harder because the PR is no longer one change. It is several changes tied together with no clean separation. When something breaks after merging, identifying the root cause becomes slow and frustrating. And if the team needs a partial rollback, it turns into a nightmare because all the changes are bundled together. You cannot revert one part without dragging the rest of the mess with it.
PR monsters can be prevented. The idea is simple and powerful. Split work into smaller, focused pull requests. Keep unrelated edits out. Ship pieces early. Communicate clearly what each PR is meant to do. Let every PR solve one problem and solve it well. Smaller PRs improve review quality, reduce risk and help teams move faster with less stress.
If your pull request requires snacks, breaks and extra courage to review, it might be time to shrink it. Your teammates and your future self will be grateful.
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