Something is usable if it behaves exactly as expected. Joel Spolsky More Quotes by Joel Spolsky More Quotes From Joel Spolsky So if you want to get things done, you positively have to understand at any given point in time what is the most important thing to get done right now and if you're not doing it, you're not making progress at the fastest possible rate. Joel Spolsky progress important done If you can't understand the spec for a new technology, don't worry: nobody else will understand it either, and the technology won't be that important. Joel Spolsky technology important worry It's harder to read code than to write it. Joel Spolsky code harder writing Indeed one of the best ways to deflect attacks is to make it look like they're succeeding. It's the software equivalent of playing dead. Joel Spolsky succeed looks way Common programmer thought pattern: there are only three numbers: 0, 1, and n. Joel Spolsky patterns three numbers All non-trivial abstractions, to some degree, are leaky. Joel Spolsky abstraction degrees Entrepreneurship boils down to the simple fact that a team of really smart people who can get things done are going to get smart, useful things done. Joel Spolsky smart team simple Last week I was listening to a podcast on Hanselminutes, with Robert Martin talking about the SOLID principles... They all sounded to me like extremely bureaucratic programming that came from the mind of somebody that has not written a lot of code, frankly. Joel Spolsky listening mind talking Not having a schedule is OK if it's your PhD and you plan to spend 14 years on the thing, or if you're a programmer working on the next Duke Nukem and we'll ship when we're good and ready. But for almost any kind of real business, you just have to know how long things are going to take, because developing a product costs money. Joel Spolsky real long years Full service brokers, in this day and age of low cost mutual funds and discount brokers, are really nothing more than machines for ripping off retail investors. Joel Spolsky retail cost age The secret of Big Macs is that they're not very good, but every one is not very good in exactly the same way. Joel Spolsky bigs secret way Remember, just because Microsoft can do something, doesn't mean you can. Microsoft makes their own gravity. Normal rules don't apply to them. Joel Spolsky microsoft normal mean If you are a programmer working in 2006 and you don’t know the basics of characters, character sets, encodings, and Unicode, and I catch you, I’m going to punish you by making you peel onions for six months in a submarine. Joel Spolsky onions six character Watching nonprogrammers trying to run software companies is like watching someone who doesn’t know how to surf trying to surf. Even if he has great advisers standing on the shore telling him what to do, he still falls off the board again and again. Joel Spolsky running trying fall We just have to come in every morning and somehow, launch the editor. Joel Spolsky programming editors morning I've been using Vista on my home laptop since it shipped, and can say with some conviction that nobody should be using it as their primary operating system - it simply has no redeeming merits to overcome the compatibility headaches it causes. Joel Spolsky laptops overcoming home
