The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

When you do accept the responsibility for an outcome, you should expect to be held accountable for it.

Jack of all trades.

Read a technical book each quarter. Bookstores are full of technical books on interesting topics related to your current project. Once you're in the habit, read a book a month. After you've mastered the technologies you're currently using, branch out and study some that don't relate to your project.

Always respond to e-mails and voice mails, even if the response is simply "I'll get back to you later." Keeping people informed makes them far more forgiving of the occasional slip, and makes them feel that you haven't forgotten them.

Form a strong mental picture of your audience. The acrostic WISDOM, shown in Figure 1.1 on the following page, may help.

Don't spoil a perfectly good program by overembellishment and over-refinement.

When you're faced with an important meeting or a phone call with a major client, jot down the ideas you want to communicate, and plan a couple of strategies for getting them across.

When you make a mistake (as we all do) or an error in judgment, admit it honestly and try to offer options.

Great lawns need small amounts of daily care, and so do great programmers. Management consultants like to drop the word kaizen in conversations. "Kaizen" is a Japanese term that captures the concept of continuously making many small improvements.