There are no secrets on an successful software project. Both good and bad news must be able to move up and down the ptoject hierarchy without restriction.
Interpretation
Open communication is essential for the success of software projects.
Steve McConnell emphasizes the importance of transparent communication in software projects, highlighting that both successes and challenges should be shared freely throughout the project hierarchy. This open exchange of information fosters collaboration, facilitates problem-solving, and ultimately contributes to the overall success of the project.
In practice
During a team meeting about our latest software update, I shared McConnell's quote on communication to emphasize the importance of reporting both progress and setbacks.
... programming requires more concentration than other activities. It's the reason programmers get upset about 'quick interruptions' - such interruptions are tantamount to asking a juggler to keep three balls in the air and hold your groceries at the same time.
Good code is its own best documentation. As you're about to add a comment, ask yourself, "How can I improve the code so that this comment isn't needed?" Improve the code and then document it to make it even clearer.
When you lower the cost of access to space, a boom of innovation follows, just as low-cost fiber optics paved the way for the Internet and the cloud services that followed.
The only way to make software secure, reliable, and fast is to make it small.
Regardless of what the naysayers believe about human interaction and social media, the data show us that the abundance of technology is actually increasing the abundance of happiness all over the world.
If there's any object in human experience that's a precedent for what a computer should be like, it's a musical instrument: a device where you can explore a huge range of possibilities through an interface that connects your mind and your body, allowing you to be emotionally authentic and expressive.
Digital technology can be a great resource, but it can also be a pernicious one, so it's how we, as a society, really study the cognitive impact of that and use evidence-based research to go after the technology designers to do a better job of dealing with the problems of memory and attention we are seeing.
If you love a medium made of software, there's a danger that you will become entrapped in someone else's recent careless thoughts. Struggle against that.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.