Write down your requirements before you start (README.md). Always write documentation. For nontrivial projects, iterate your design on paper before writing it

Write down your requirements before you start (README.md). Always write documentation. For nontrivial projects, iterate your design on paper before writing it in code. Write down why you chose a particular design against other candidates (eg. buy vs build) as part of your documentation. Use CI/CD and automate testing. Document test results. Use an RCS/VCS. You're not going to come up with a simple design through any kind of coding techniques or any kind of programming language concepts. Simplicity has to be achieved above the code level before you get to the point which you worry about how you actually implement this thing in code. - Leslie Lamport You're not going to find the best algorithm in terms of computational complexity by coding. - Leslie Lamport