Thursday, May 1, 2008

Agile Practices

While I was reading "Pragmatic Programmers" by Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt, I ran into lots of good quips and quotes. BTW, I really enjoyed reading the book. Very well written and doesnt get into a boring lecture, instead keeps it very short and succinct just like what they preach.
I thought it'd be a good idea to summarize some of them for nailing it further into my head.. and also to remind me whenever I feel like Im getting away from the agile practices.. So here they are in no particular order:

  • Fix the problem, not the symptom.
  • Quick fixes become quick sand.
  • You dont have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.
  • Learn iteratively and incrementally; Read voraciously.
  • Strech beyond purely technical books and topics (project estimation, communication skills etc)
  • Learn the new; unlearn the old (which holds you back)
  • Only difference between a rut and grave is its dimensions - Keeping old habits past their expiration date is hazardous to your career.
  • Small reachable goals keep you moving forward. (Break down your task into smaller and manageable units of code rather than write one do-all function only to realize later that you misunderstood a key point or the client wants to change the process in few areas)
  • Keep records of decisions and the reasoning behind them. (log, wiki, issue tracking db, etc)
  • One test is worth a thousand expert opinions.
  • When writing code, choose readability over convenience.
  • Instead of being too opaque or clever, follow the PIE (Program Intentively and Expressively) principle.
  • Write code to be clear, not clever.
  • Dont complicate the design for the sake of perceived performance or elegance.
  • Premature optimization is the root of all evil.
  • Elegance is easy to understand and recognize, but much harder to create.
  • Develop the simplest solution that works - Incorporate patterns, principles and technology only if you have a compelling reason to use them.
  • Keeping balance - A box of cotton fibers isnt helpful when you need a sock. (In the name of breaking down functionality into smaller units, do not fragmentize to such an extent that it becomes ridiculously convoluted to invoke a simple function.)
  • Maintain a log of problems and their solutions.
  • Point your colleagues in the right direction instead of handing them the solution.
  • Code reviews are useless unless you follow up on the recommendations quickly.
  • Knowledge grows when given - if you use your candle to light mine, I get light without darkening you.

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