Test-Driven Development (TDD) — the idea that you write tests before you write any code — is one of those killer ideas that we just keep coming back to. At a technical level, most experienced software developers understand the inherent value in TDD: delivering a suite of automated tests alongside your code just feels a [...]
Archive for the ‘Make It Reliable’ Category
14 Oct
Rule #13: Robots are pretty much always a good idea.
At the Silicon Valley Code Camp last weekend, I saw a very interesting talk put on by Adam Rosien and Eishay Smith over at KaChing, a startup in the financial space, entitled “5 Minutes Commit to Production: Continuous Deployment.” Essentially the philosophy these guys espouse is one in which, until your code is in the [...]
11 Oct
Rule #11: You get good at what you measure.
Most software product managers know their days are filled with a set of seemingly neverending decisions. Since you’re in the middle of everything, you get asked a lot of questions: this mockup or that one? This technology or that? Build or buy? Launch this week or the week after? Chocolate or peanut butter? Air Force [...]
18 Oct
Rule #9: Research is not development, and development is not research.
Software development has two phases, and you are constantly flipping between the two. There is the research phase, in which you are thinking about what you want to build. And there is the development phase, in which you are actually building. These two phases are polar opposites of one another. The goal of the research [...]
10 Oct
Rule #7: Use as little technology as you can for as long as you can.
Change is part of every project, and one of the most effective ways to create something great is not to hide from this idea but to embrace it. If you know that things are going to change, then meet those changes head-on. One of the best ways to do this is through rapid iteration using [...]
