I have to be honest; I didn’t expect the response I
received from my
Fatherly advice to new programmers article. There have been some very nice
things written about it, not only in the comments but in other blogs. I don’t
consider myself a very good writer and having my writing style praised was
highly unexpected. I thank everyone for
their kind words. Also, if you haven’t read the comments posted to the article
yet, I highly recommend it. They offer interesting insights from a variety of
perspectives.
I also recommend reading some of the blogs entries that
have been written in response to it. I would like to point out one in particular
from Jeff Atwood:
Shipping Isn't
Enough. I agree with him. You not only need to focus on shipping but make
sure what you are working on is worth shipping. You need to focus on shipping
programs people use and enjoy using.
Other bloggers have pointed out that you often don’t that
much control over what you are working on, such as
Mike-O-Matic’s
Shipping Is Enough, Sometimes. And
other point out that sometimes you don’t know if what you are working on will be
used or not, as in Avonelle’s If a
program falls in a forest....
These entries remind me of one more bit of advice: you are
not your users. Just because you like something some particular way doesn’t mean
that your users will, nor just because you would never use something doesn’t mean
nobody needs it. You are not your users; you should get to know them.