Add a patch scope section to 'effective neutron'

Change-Id: I99d82d25d72689b8e1212267ae346e87862a9006

diff --git a/doc/source/devref/effective_neutron.rst b/doc/source/devref/effective_neutron.rst
index 98bf8e9fb68138d33016623cf294f793c54d2a61..cd44a35a2018560cc1292728696e75a90ce3385d 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/source/devref/effective_neutron.rst
+++ b/doc/source/devref/effective_neutron.rst
@@ -133,6 +133,20 @@ Document common pitfalls as well as good practices done when writing docstrings.
 Landing patches more rapidly
 ----------------------------
 
+Scoping your patch appropriately
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+* Do not make multiple changes in one patch unless absolutely necessary.
+  Cleaning up nearby functions or fixing a small bug you noticed while working
+  on something else makes the patch very difficult to review. It also makes
+  cherry-picking and reverting very difficult.
+* If a fix or feature requires code refactoring, submit the refactoring as a
+  separate patch than the one that changes the logic. Otherwise
+  it's difficult for a reviewer to tell the difference between mistakes
+  in the refactor and changes required for the fix/feature. If it's a bug fix,
+  try to implement the fix before the refactor to avoid making cherry-picks to
+  stable branches difficult.
+
 Nits and pedantic comments
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~