The pressure of IT projects make people doubt themselves at the time they need to believe in themselves

The pressure of IT projects make people doubt themselves at the time they need to believe in themselves #HoskCodeWisdom

It’s easy believing your plan is the right thing to do before the start but when it begins, money is being spent pressure builds and those easy decisions suddenly become scary decisions.

When the pressure is on, people can doubt decisions because now decisions carry consequences but it’s at this moment you need to believe in your yourself and your decisions.

During a project lots of people have opinions,  question decisions and their will be a clamour to decide with guaranteed outcomes.  You can mitigate the problem by making sure you are using the correct criteria for the decision.  The criteria you use to decide is as important as the decision.

Complex decisions contain risk, the result is in the balance and there is a possibility of making the wrong decision.

Don’t fear being wrong

Making the wrong decision or making a mistake is part of the process of getting it right.

You make wrong decisions, live with it, focus on learning, improving and using the feedback to move in the right direction.

This is the time you need to believe, make sure you can justify the criteria, decisions and go for it.  You make the decisions with the information you had at the time, the right decision is only obvious after the outcome.

It’s important for the project to avoid a blame culture and ensure people are not afraid of making mistakes.  You want people to voice their opinions and suggest what they think is right, not scared to speak up.

Wisdom of crowds

Another area decisions are difficult is when a decisions conflicts with the majority, status quo or the way things were previously done.  People are wary of change and are reluctant to support it but there are circumstances when change is needed.  Focus on the facts and highlight the assumptions, this allows you make decisions based on facts not opinions or beliefs.

I will finish with a quote from the zen pugilist Mike Tyson

Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth. Mike Tyson

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Good code is like underwear. Simple, short and and a joy to look at

Good code is like underwear. Simple, short and and a joy to look at #HoskCodeWisdom

Developers write complex code because they don’t have enough time to write simple code.  To get to a place to write simple code you need to have understood the key requirements and create a simple design.

When explaining a subject, an expert identifies the key points, the hierarchy of knowledge and can explain it.  People who don’t understand a topic jump between points, use 20 words when 5 will do and repeat themselves.

The difference between complex code and simple code is noise; the purpose of the code is unclear with unnecessary steps.  Simple code has clarity, it’s concise and written with a purpose.  When designing code you create excess because you understand the problem whilst you solve it, the design evolves as with your understanding.

Developers skip the design stage and move straight to writing code, it gives the illusion of progress.  The developer learns the solution but the more thought you put into the problem the clearer the solution becomes.  Learning the needs half way through leaves you in a dilemma to adjust what you have or start again.

Writers should not publish an first draft of writing, developers should not release an first draft of code.  You should release when it’s ready, not what you have.

Simple code is created by developers who care about quality, who care about the developers read, maintain and extend it.  Clean code is not written by accident.

Sometimes the most productive day as a programmer is the day you remove hundreds of lines of code and refactor a large confused class into small focused methods

I finish this post with a KISS – Keep it simple stupid

Further reading

• Michael Feathers – Orange Code
• Coding with Clarity: Part II
• 4 practices for better code

 

Hosk’s recommended Dynamics 365 and other articles August 2018

Quotes

I’m an artist, my canvas is Microsoft Dynamics 365 #HoskWisdom

Write fewer lines of code but which do more #HoskCodeWisdom

“To live in the past is to die in the present.” – Bill Belichick

Articles of the Month

• Getting started as a Dynamics 365 CE Developer 
• Custom controls and advanced client side business logic for model-driven Microsoft PowerApps

Great Dynamics 365 articles this month

• Dynamics 365 Multi-Select Option Sets, I Like Them But
• Will development move towards no code solutions?
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 upgrade
• Video – Dynamics 365 and Update Cadence
• The future of Microsoft Dynamics 365 projects
• A Microsoft Flow Custom Connector step-by-step from scratch: Microsoft Teams
• PowerApps Enterprise deployment white paper
• Automate UI testing for Dynamics 365 using EasyRepro and a VSTS Build Agent
• HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE OCTOBER 2018 BUSINESS APPLICATION RELEASE NOTES
• Jukka N – Winter in July: Release Notes for Next Dynamics 365 Version
• Unit test Web API calls with xrm-mock and SinonJS
• Scott Durow’s favourite PowerApps/Dynamics CE features in the October 2018 Release
• ARM \ Logic App Deployment with VSTS
• Model Driven Apps are GO!
• Activity Logging (aka Read Audit) – why is it important for a Dynamics developer
• The End Is Near for Dynamics 365 (Customer Driven) Updates
• What’s new in the Dynamics 365 Resource Scheduling Optimization version 2.7 release
• Sessions from the Business Application summit are available on-demand

Programming/Scrum

• Why we do not need a SCRUM MASTER!
• Getting older in tech
• The best code is no code at all
• Leadership styles and scrum masters
• The SOLID Principles, Explained with Motivational Posters
• video – Agile is Dead • Pragmatic Dave Thomas 2015
• WHAT IS THE THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS?
• Does Passion Make a Better Programmer?

Other/Business/Leadership/Management

• Why Developers Become Frustrated And Companies Can’t Find Talent
• Simple success principle
• Moore’s Law Is Dead. Now What?
• The biggest lie in HR – people quit managers
• Farnam Street Principles
• Why Empathy is the Secret to Negotiating
• Belbin’s Team Role Inventories
• Not enough people are paying attention to this economic trend
• What to do about Mediocrity on your team
• Hostage Negotiation Techniques That Will Get You What You Want

Kindle books on offer

• Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street: The New York Times bestseller Bill Gates calls ‘the best business book I’ve ever read’  – 99p
• The Wisest One in the Room: How To Harness Psychology’s Most Powerful Insights – 99p
• Life Leverage: How to Get More Done in Less Time, Outsource Everything & Create Your Ideal Mobile Lifestyle – 99p 
• Measure What Matters: OKRs: The Simple Idea that Drives 10x Growth – 1.99

The Hosk – currently reading

• Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond
• Rationality: From AI to Zombies
• Flipnosis: The Art of Split-Second Persuasion
• Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator
• When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi
• First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently

The Hosk – has read and recommends

• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It
• The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking
• The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King
• How To Be F*cking Awesome
• The Accordionist (Three Evangelists 3)

Hosk’s CRM Developer Articles

A collection of my favorite CRM Developer articles I have written