There is a fine line that separate good from great, a very few things between the two that differentiate our work and make it outstanding instead of just being acceptable. This applies to almost anything in life, and especially web development. There has been a lot of talk about how everyone defines effective developers. Having worked with several web developers over the years, I have noticed that the effective ones all do the same things.
In this post, we will learn what does it take to become effective in web development and we will explore 7 amazing habits that will support you in your daily routines to become highly effective web developer. Let’s take a look at these 7 habits:
Documenting and Understanding the Requirements
Begin with the End in Mind
According to Dr. Stephen R. Covey, all things are created twice — first in the mind, and then in the real world. Physical creations follow mental ones, just like homes are built according to blueprints. So, in short, to begin with the end in mind is to visualize the web solution the way the client want it to end up being before you actually begin pursuing it. When you make this conscious effort, you take much greater control over the project and the final output before coding begins.
One of the best ways to incorporate this habit into your daily routines is to make a list of measurable success criteria on which you can evaluate the final output.
For example, your success criteria may be that the web solution possesses specific functionalities and produces specific results, has no known critical defects, is reusable, is maintainable, is well documented and is easy to use.
Use the Right Tools
Team Collaboration
Another habit to become a effective web developer is "Team collaboration". It occurs when team members work together as a group on a specific project to achieve a better result than what could be achieved individually. It involves brainstorming, thinking creatively, offering unique skills, seeing the bigger picture, and meeting the goals of the client. Each member in the team has a unique skill set, but they share workloads while discussing ideas, new methods, or different perspectives to deliver better quality solutions.
Conflicts may occur while working collaboratively because team members may have different viewpoints, it is important to consider these conflicts are challenges and train the team to handle friction constructively. At the end, the team members should be united around a shared goal represented by the company’s mission and vision.
There are three main types of skills to acquire which will improve the collaboration in a team:
- Communication skills
- Emotional intelligence
- Respect for diversity
Keep Your Solution Simple
Always try to make your solution simple, it is one of my favorites habits that I always practice when doing web development. Simplicity is a key design principle. The easier something is to understand and use – the more likely it is to be adopted and engaged with. There is a design principle called "KISS". KISS is an acronym for keep it simple, stupid, is a design principle noted by the U.S. Navy in 1960. The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated; therefore, simplicity should be a key goal in design, and unnecessary complexity should be avoided.
Learn to Test and Debug
Testing is the process that allow us to ensure end-users that are interacting with the web solution can perform a specific task such as creating an account, adding an item to a cart, or submitting a form. Every action that a user may take requires a check to make sure that the product is performing as defined in the specifications.
Both steps are very essential in the development process, but debugging is more important because you should acquire debugging skills such as understanding the code even if it is not yours in order to solve immediate problems, and making sure work gets completed in a timely manner.
Continue to Sharpen the Saw
Effective developers see the need to continue learning in order to sharpen their skills, they keep exploring new techniques, best practices and approaches to improve their deliverables. They have a thirst to increase their knowledge curve by reading every development book or article they can get their hands on. Here are a few of my favorite development books:
- Agile Project Management with Scrum - by Ken Schwaber, Microsoft Press
- The Enterprise and Scrum - by Ken Schwaber, Microsoft Press
- Code Complete - by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press
- Rapid Application Development, by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press
Conclusion
Don’t beat yourself up if it takes a while to pick up these habits. Look upon your past projects to learn what has worked well and what hasn't. Subscribe to interesting blogs to read articles about web development and software engineering in general, keep yourself aware of relevant industry knowledge by visiting technology sites and news. Always, remember when to have fun to recharge your energy by taking great vacations and by having outside hobbies and activities, this is very important for your physical and mental health.
I hope you enjoyed exploring these 7 habits of highly effective web developers. You are welcome to leave a comment in case you feel like sharing more good habits with us.
Effective developers see the need to continue learning in order to sharpen their skills, they keep exploring new techniques, best practices and approaches to improve their deliverables.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. Thanks for sharing this valuable opinion
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