The principles that guide value-driven engineers. Use them to evaluate decisions, guide your team, and challenge processes that don't add value.
Don't build until you understand the purpose. The best engineers question the problem before solving it.
Busy isn't productive. Shipping code is not the goal. Shipping value is. Measure what matters to customers, company, team, and yourself.
Every decision affects customers, company, team, and you. Consider all four or make the trade-off explicit.
Your default should be understood by anyone. Go deep only when depth is required.
Short-term wins matter. So does not burning down the house. Know which mode you're in and why.
Optimize your tools, communication, and routines for smooth flow. If a process doesn't add value—kill it or fix it.
Your job isn't done when the code ships. It's done when the problem is solved. Care about whether it actually worked.
Self-reflection is a skill. Honest feedback is a gift. Build habits of deliberate improvement such as retrospectives, postmortems, skill-building.
These are guides, not laws. Context matters. Sometimes you'll violate a principle deliberately—that's fine, as long as you know you're doing it and why. The goal isn't rigid compliance. The goal is better judgment.