Make it work. Make it right. Make it fast.

anand posted this on 21 Aug 2013

Be it a new product or a new feature or an enhancement or a bug fix, I follow this quite religiously.

1. Make it Work

2. Make it Right

3. Make it Fast

This is not new. Most programmers I follow, follow this strategy.

Make it work - first make the code do what you wanted it to do.

Make it right - Refactor it. Cut the duplication and make sure your code is easy to read and understand. It then becomes simple to maintain it.

Make it fast - if your product is slow, you suck. Big time. Measure the code and fix the bottlenecks.

Code review is almost always about the last two steps. If your team mate can’t do the first step, your shouldn’t have hired him/her in the first place. If he cannot do the last two steps - that’s ok. These skills can be acquired. 

Don’t commit your code until you finish the third thing. You will have a better product if most of your team is convinced about all this.

~