KISS and other fine principles
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Will Durant
Murphy’s Law
The Murphy in question is alleged to have been Edward Murphy, an aerospace engineer, and the story behind the law is actually more positive than you might expect. Murphy was working at an Air Force base to develop new devices for testing human tolerance of g-forces, and several errors nearly led to someone being seriously injured. But the team had always assumed that everything that could go wrong, would go wrong, and so they had back-up and safety measures in place. Assuming that everything would go wrong had avoided the worst consequences of it doing so.
Galls law
It states: A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system.
Occam’s Razor
The problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. The principle is sometimes inaccurately paraphrased as “The simplest explanation is usually the best one.”
Cunningham’s Law
The first law on this list that concerns interactions on the internet, Cunningham’s Law states that the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to post a question – but to post the wrong answer.
The Pareto principle
The Pareto Principle is the idea that it’s often the case that 80% of the output in a particular situation comes from 20% of the input. In a noisy group of students, 20% of the students will be making 80% of the noise. In a call center, 20% of the salespeople produce 80% of the sales. In healthcare, 20% of patients use 80% of the resources.
KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
KISS. The one-word phrase my boss used to tell me when my solution to a problem was far too technical, and long-winded. I did not realize the power of this advice until much later…
Simple does not mean easy.