[abought]

At various points in my career, I've had to oversee people creating data export features for research-focused apps. Eventually, I instituted a very simple rule:

As part of code review, the developer of the feature must be able to roundtrip export -> import a realistic test dataset using the same program and workflow that they expect a consumer of the data to use. They have up to one business day to accomplish this task, and are allowed to ask an end user for help. If they don't meet that goal, the PR is sent back to the developer.

What's fascinating about the exercise is that I've bounced as many "clever" hand-rolled CSV exporters (due to edge cases) as other more advanced file formats (due to total incompatibility with every COTS consuming program). All without having to say a word of judgment.

Data export is often a task anchored by humans at one end. Sometimes those humans can work with a better alternative, and it's always worth asking!