Algorithms we develop software by
a day ago
- Start each day by writing a feature from scratch, deleting previous work except unit tests, to enforce clean solutions.
- If a feature can't be implemented after a few days, first implement the groundwork infrastructure or refactoring needed.
- Rewriting code twice can yield 2x quality for 1.25x time, beneficial for long-term maintenance.
- Solving the same problem repeatedly helps retain knowledge of patterns, crucial for junior engineers to reach 100K lines of experience.
- The 'gun to the head' heuristic breaks anchoring bias by forcing a radically different solution under a tight deadline, often reducing time from weeks to days.
- Engineering heuristics are like pathfinding algorithms, each with pros and cons; becoming a better engineer involves better navigation of problem space.