These aren’t rules. They’re patterns I’ve noticed in my best work and habits I try to maintain. They change over time.
Build to understand. The fastest way to learn something is to build with it. Reading and watching only gets you so far. Hands-on work reveals the details that matter.
Write things down. If I didn’t write it down, I didn’t learn it. Writing forces clarity and creates a reference I can return to. This entire site exists because of this principle.
Start simple, stay simple. Complexity is easy to add and hard to remove. Begin with the simplest version that works, and only add complexity when there’s a clear reason.
Measure before optimising. Intuition about performance is frequently wrong. Measure first, then optimise the thing that actually matters. This applies to code, systems, and processes.
Prefer boring technology. New tools are exciting but carry unknown risks. Proven tools let you focus on the problem instead of the tooling. Choose new technology deliberately, not by default.
Make it work, make it right, make it fast. In that order. A working system you can improve is more valuable than a perfect system that doesn’t exist yet.
Share what you learn. Knowledge compounds when shared. Writing publicly forces me to think more carefully, and occasionally helps someone else avoid a mistake I already made.
Question defaults. Most configurations, workflows, and architectural choices were made by someone else for their context. Understand why a default exists before accepting it, and change it when your context is different.
Rest is productive. The best ideas arrive when I step away from the screen. Sustainable pace beats heroic effort every time.
Stay curious. The most interesting problems are at the edges of what I know. Following curiosity is how I find work that matters.