Ok, I’ve decided to make a rod for my own back.

After spending over 30 years in the data processing world, surely I’ve learnt a few useful things by now? You’d certainly hope so!

Keep It Simple

Like Da Vinci (supposedly) said: ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.’

Einstein also (supposedly) chimed in with: ‘Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.’

Simplicity is the over-arching mindset for everything in my day job.

It’s important to remember that the cost of development is a fraction of the cost of maintaining a piece of code over its lifetime.

Some of my code has been running out there at client sites for over 20 years. The fact that it can be understood, fixed and enhanced easily remains very important long after I’ve gone.

If you’re the kind of developer that likes to write clever code, chances are you’ve just created an expensive-to-maintain burden for your employer. Not so clever, really?

Technical debt is a thing folks. It’s most easily avoided by sticking to the mantra of simplicity.

Don’t agree? Well, I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that Da Vinci and Einstein probably shaded it in the brilliance stakes.