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Why Spreadsheet-Based Code Reviews Don't Scale

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Why Spreadsheet-Based Code Reviews Don't Scale

Excel and manual checklists cannot keep up with the complexity, velocity, and governance requirements of modern data engineering.

CoeurData Editorial Team5 min read

1. They Create Inconsistent Interpretations

Two reviewers may interpret a rule differently, producing unreliable results and uneven enforcement.

2. They Cannot Scale Across Thousands of Pipelines

Enterprises maintain hundreds of workflows, which may contain thousands of reusable objects. Manual checks cannot keep pace.

3. They Do Not Integrate with CI/CD

Quality must be validated before merging or deploying. Excel cannot participate in automated delivery pipelines.

No history, benchmarks, or ability to compare teams, vendors, projects, or releases.

5. They Are Not Audit-Defensible

Regulators expect structured, repeatable assessments—not subjective spreadsheets.

6. They Slow Development

Developers wait for manual reviews, causing bottlenecks and context switching.

7. They Cannot Keep Pace with Changing Platforms

New features, new transformation patterns, and new cloud services require rules that evolve faster than spreadsheets can.

Automation is the only sustainable solution for large-scale data engineering environments.