Reading: The Developer's Code

I recently finished reading The Developer's Code and found some ideas that really resonate. There's a lot in the book that feels very obvious, but then I realize how long it took me to learn those lessons and how many mistakes I've made to learn them. Those thoughts make me realize that the other parts of the book, the ones that don't click as much, are probably even more valuable since I now have an opportunity to learn things without the pain of experiencing then through failure (although I'm sure I'll still get to enjoy those feelings quite often).

Essay 11 is titled Stop Programming. Its argument is that it's not about the hours one puts into the work but the quality. "Great programming is about maximizing the time you’re working at your best, not the cumulative hours you spend in front of a screen." This is readily obvious from thinking about charging clients an hourly rate vs. a fixed rate. Does it really matter if I sit at my computer for eight hours if I can provide just as much value from two hours of work? Won't work find a way to take the entire time allotted unless we're ever-vigilant? The difficulty for people to realize this is that programming is abstract and value isn't guaranteed through lines of code written.

The next essay, Test Your Work First Thing in the Morning, posits that we're mentally and physically fresher earlier in the day, so it makes the most sense to do the hard things then. By the late afternoon, "our perception of what makes sense or feels right now competes with fatigue. Also, fatigue makes us miss the small details." If we haven't stopped programming to take a break or otherwise recharge, our cognitive abilities will deteriorate more than normal. Thinking as an activity is difficult.

Pair programming is wonderful, but it's intense as well. We've come to understand that we shouldn't work on the more difficult problems at the end of the day, so we always try to leave small bugs or simple features for that time. It's also motivating to start the day solving more interesting problems rather than putting then off until the motivation has waned. At that time it's better to just get something done that is low impact.