The Wolfbane Manifesto

I was reading Gretchen Ruben's
blog post:  "Do You Love Manifestos as Much as I Do? Here’s My Habits Manifesto."  It got me to thinking...



What follows is not so much a manifesto as it is a set of rules I've come up with over the course of my career.  Some of these rules have hard-learned lessons behind them.  I've broken them up into categories to give them some kind of order.

My plan is to write blog posts about each one and link to them from here. 



Working In General

• When starting a new job, hit the ground running.
• If something doesn't seem right, speak up.
• Fixin' to work on something is a form of procrastination.
• Step back and look at issues from the other side.  Don't let emotion blind you.
• You cannot know everything, but you can know where to look or who to ask.

SW Development

• You can write software to do anything given enough time and money.
• If you are stuck on a problem, walk away, clear your mind, and then look at it fresh.  If that doesn't work, explain the problem to someone else.  You will most likely solve it just from the telling.
• Automation Rule of Three:  If you do it once, its an anomaly.  If you do it twice, it could be a coincidence.  If you do it a third time, you should automate because four and five are sure to follow.
• The software is not done until the last user is dead.

Leadership and Working with People

• Never ask someone to do something you are not willing (regardless of being able) to do yourself.
• You need to manage up and manage down.
• Everyone has something to contribute.