Petre M., Software Design Decoded (2016)

 |  Book Reviews

66 Ways Experts Think.

More fun than teaching, yet still insightful and thought-provoking, this very short set of habits, practices, and approaches captures what software designers encounter on their way to mastery.

The book is divided in sections like "Experts Keep It Simple", "Experts Break the Rules", "Experts Reflect" etc. Each section contains a number of statements of what experts practice or how they think and the context in which that statement is appropriate.

I’ve included here only those that resonate with me the most, quoting the parts of contexts with most interesting meanings.

  • EXPERTS PREFER SIMPLE SOLUTIONS
    Simplicity is so important to them that they often continue to search for simpler solutions even after they have a solution in hand.

  • EXPERTS REACH OUT
    Experts deliberately involve others outside of their team when they have a purpose for doing so, often to obtain specialized technical or domain knowledge.

  • EXPERTS INVOLVE THE USER
    Yet experts do not take everything users say at face value. They realize the potential limitations, as users’ thinking is often colored by current experiences. Experts look beyond what users ask for, to what users actually need.

  • EXPERTS AGREE TO DISAGREE
    ... experts accept temporary disagreement and proceed in designing other aspects of the project. More information resulting from further design activity will help them resolve their disagreement.

  • EXPERTS LOOK AROUND
    ... they often also spend time looking around just to add to their repertoire of possible design solutions to draw upon in the future.

  • EXPERTS RESHAPE THE PROBLEM SPACE
    Experts often step back from the stated problem and consider the problem space more broadly, looking for alternative ways of understanding “what the problem is.”

  • EXPERTS USE NOTATIONS AS LENSES, RATHER THAN STRAIGHTJACKETS
    Experts understand the true value of notations... experts remember to complement the leverage a notation gives them with engaging with what is outside of it.

  • EXPERTS KNOW HOW THINGS WORK
    Experts have a huge, accessible store of knowledge.

  • EXPERTS ARE ALERT TO EVIDENCE THAT CHALLENGES THEIR THEORY
    To experts, no issue is too small to investigate, for they know that small issues can be indicative of much larger problems lurking beneath the surface.

  • EXPERTS CURTAIL DIGRESSIONS
    They ... abandon unproductive work, and focus effort where it needs to be focused.

  • EXPERTS INVEST NOW TO SAVE EFFORT LATER
    They foreshadow alternative futures, and perform cost-benefit analyses to determine whether investments now—in methods, tools, resources, design alternatives—could save effort later.