To establish an effective daily dev log practice, you’re going to need a tool that not only provides editing capabilities but also helps you structure and navigate your content.

I’ve maintained a dev log off and on throughout my 21-year career, and when I’ve been consistent, it has paid serious dividends.

Today we’re going to learn a different dev log summarization technique: defragmentation.

The longer you continue your daily dev log practice, the more likely it is you’ll create complete knowledge bases for specific skills or tasks. These knowledge bases represent tremendous value to future you. When the time comes, you’ll be able to exploit them to your advantage.

Earlier this month I asked Twitter a question:

What’s the most helpful habit you’ve established during your software engineering career?

I’ve always been fascinated by anyone that’s reached the pinnacle of excellence in their chosen profession, especially software engineering (since that’s what I do!).

Today I’m going to teach you how to begin your journey to harvesting insights from your dev log.

You should expect a healthy ROI from the time you spend capturing your daily activities. Simply writing down everything you do each day isn’t enough. Reviewing and summarizing the week is like conducting a mini-retrospective with yourself.

To harvest meaningful patterns from your dev log, you’ll need to capture the same things daily.

I’ve been engineering software for 21 years, and I’ll share what I’ve routinely kept in mine. Your context is different, so your list will be also. Just make sure you capture the same things daily.

Use this list as a skeleton to start from. It’s easier when you aren’t starting from a blank page!

Today, I’m going to teach you a practice that will make you a better engineer: keeping a dev log.

In 2001, Lamont Adams of TechRepublic chiseled what would become ten commandments of Gerald M. Weinberg’s timeless wisdom: Egoless Programming. Today we’re going to learn its tenth commandment:

Critique code instead of people.

In 2001, Lamont Adams of TechRepublic chiseled what would become ten commandments of Gerald M. Weinberg’s timeless wisdom: Egoless Programming. Today we’re going to learn its ninth commandment:

Don’t be the uncollaborative coder in the corner.

I’m publishing a little bit late today.

I had the skeleton of Egoless Programming #9 stood up this afternoon, with a plan to complete essay after helping my oldest with her physics project. It is based on an old MIT engineering competition called “King of the Hill.”

In 2001, Lamont Adams of TechRepublic chiseled what would become ten commandments of Gerald M. Weinberg’s timeless wisdom: Egoless Programming. Today we’re going to learn its eighth commandment:

Fight for what you believe, but gracefully accept defeat.

In 2001, Lamont Adams of TechRepublic chiseled what would become ten commandments of Gerald M. Weinberg’s timeless wisdom: Egoless Programming. Today we’re going to learn it’s seventh commandment:

The only true authority stems from knowledge, not from position.

In 2001, Lamont Adams of TechRepublic chiseled what would become ten commandments of Gerald M. Weinberg’s timeless wisdom: Egoless Programming. Today we’re going to learn its sixth commandment:

The only constant in the world is change.

In 2001, Lamont Adams of TechRepublic chiseled what would become ten commandments of Gerald M. Weinberg’s timeless wisdom: Egoless Programming. Today we’re going to learn its fifth commandment:

Treat people who know less than you with respect, deference, and patience.

In 2001, Lamont Adams of TechRepublic chiseled what would become ten commandments of Gerald M. Weinberg’s timeless wisdom: Egoless Programming. Today we’re going to learn its fourth commandment:

Don’t rewrite code without consultation.

In 2001, Lamont Adams of TechRepublic chiseled what would become ten commandments of Gerald M. Weinberg’s timeless wisdom: Egoless Programming. Today we’re going to learn its third commandment:

No matter how much “karate” you know, someone else will always know more.

In 2001, Lamont Adams of TechRepublic chiseled what would become ten commandments of Gerald M. Weinberg’s timeless wisdom: Egoless Programming. Today we’re going to learn its second commandment:

You are not your code.

In 2001, Lamont Adams of TechRepublic chiseled what would become ten commandments of Gerald M. Weinberg’s timeless wisdom: Egoless Programming. Today we’re going to learn it’s first commandment:

Understand and accept that you will make mistakes.

These five tools used proficiently will improve your ability to focus and engineer software.

Software engineering is primarily a collaborative game played by humans in teams. But you still spend a lot of time writing, refactoring, deleting, and testing code. The more efficiently you can perform those tasks, the more time and energy you will have to play the game.

In 1971, Gerald M. Weinberg wrote1 these Ten Commandments upon the stone tablets of The Psychology of Computer Programming.

Well, they weren’t really written in stone. But they have stood the test of time. Wise is the software engineer who learns them and puts them into practice.

I’m going to tell you the five things I wish I had known when I began my career.

I’ve had a very successful career. But that success was determined by inches not yards.