Software Development Rules of Thumb

Talking over the weekend about software development, reminded me of some rules of thumb I used to bring some order to the thicket of possibilities in software development.

Screenshot of software development elements
  • Design for requirements, not exceptions
    • Good data should flow easily through system, exceptions are handled outside the main flow
    • Good data should flow easily through system, exceptions are handled outside the main flow
  • Our minds can only think of 5 to 10 items at a time
    • Limit of complexity to attempt in a logical unit
  • Pushing against a wall is exerting energy, not doing work
    • Great effort can be reported, but if the requirement is not met, no work has been accomplished
  • If you cut a block of cheese into teeny pieces, everyone will starve
    • In simplifying modules, the number of interfaces explodes, more than wiping out the efficiency gain in module coding
  • Always create specific test cases
    • Don’t test with all the data! You will be swamped by extraneous failures

Screenshot of Software Development elements by Dusan Rodina, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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