Process
The Four Review Passes We Run Before Anything Ships
5 min read
A single review pass finds the problems the reviewer was already looking for. Splitting review into four passes with different objectives finds substantially more, because each pass has a different question.
Pass one is functionality. Every link, form, filter, payment path, and interactive control is exercised. Not read — used.
Pass two is visual quality. Spacing, alignment, typography, responsive behaviour at real breakpoints, and consistency against the design system.
Pass three is conversion and content. Does each page communicate value, answer the obvious objection, and offer a logical next action? This pass is done reading as a buyer, not as a builder.
Pass four is technical. Performance, accessibility, SEO, browser behaviour, security, error handling, and whether the next developer can understand it.
The passes are deliberately sequential and deliberately separate. Combining them recreates the original problem: one reviewer, one question, one set of blind spots.