High-level Rules To Code By

I came across a small markdown file that I had created years ago when I was leading a small team on a fairly ambitious project. It was a short bullet list of guidelines I put together for that team. None of it is overly detailed, but I think it’s a pretty good list. I may expand on it a bit over time, but for now I’ll just drop it here in its original form.

• No decision is final
  • Bad decisions over indecision
• Perfect is the enemy of good
• Scope should be cut mercilessly
  • Don’t add scope!
• It’s Just Code, it can be changed
• Always be moving forward
• Build something then iterate
  • Customers typically don’t know what they want until they see it
  • A basic feature is a good starting point
• Prefer simple over clever