What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry

Published in tech industry, on Feb 13, 2021

  1. Beware of the Curse of Knowledge

  2. Focus on the Fundamentals

    • Teamwork — Great teams build great software. Don’t take teamwork for granted.
    • Trust — Teams move at the speed of trust. Be the kind of dependable person you would want to work with.
    • Communication — Communicate honestly and proactively. Avoid the curse of knowledge.
    • Seek Consensus — Take the time to bring your whole team along. Let discussion and disagreement bring you to the best solution.
    • Automated Testing — Well-tested code allows your team to move fast with confidence.
    • Clean, understandable, and navigable code and design - Think of the next engineer that will take over your code as your customer. Build code that your successor won’t have any trouble reading, maintaining, and updating.

  3. Simplicity

  4. Seek First to Understand

“Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood.”

  1. Beware of Lock-In
  2. Be Honest and Acknowledge When You Don’t Fit the Role
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