10 Minute talk, submitted to Lead Developer.
We all use version control, and it goes like this: You do some work, commit the work, and push it to a remote repository, then request a code review for your PR/MR. It's an unfortunate truth that often care and attention isn't given to the commit messages. And it's also true that many times the code review process is perfunctory, or even worse, pejorative.
Here's the thing – what you put into your commit messages matters. Those commit messages are either love letters to your future self, or hate mail. You’ve heard the maxim that code is written once and read many times, and the same goes for commit messages. Putting some thought into what you put into your commit messages (and making them readable) is important.
And commit messages are only 1/2 the story -- these commits work together to form a pull or merge request, to be reviewed by another human. The same care and attention should be put into how you structure your PRs. They should tell a story through a series of logical, progressive steps that end up implementing the feature or fixing the bug. And those performing the code reviews should treat them with the care that they deserve.
So get your team "commit-ted" to crafting useful commit messages and performing humane code reviews!