Check Your Blinders at the Door

Here are some bad words:

• Tunnel Vision
• Blinders
• Arrogance
• Single Mindedness
• Happy Path
• My Opinion
• One Way
• One Solution
• One Method
• Only

These are very bad words because they all lead to software failure. Simply they lead the developer into false beliefs that the code is complete and meets user needs.

• Think like a user, not how you would use it!
• Happy, Unhappy, Alternate Paths
• What could go wrong?
• Can the user make a mistake?
• What about Undo/Redo, s the action symmetric?

Remember that the most critical bug is that the user will not use your software. If you cause extra work for the user, inconvenience them, waste their time, or treat them as stupid drones, you will not be considered a great programmer.