Kaizen is a Japanese term for “continuous improvement”, the Kaizen principle is the idea that small, continuous changes can lead to significant improvements.

I’m often reminded of this quote by one of my heroes Joe Armstrong, who phrased it as follows:

Make it work, then make it beautiful. Then, if you really, really have to, make it fast. 90 percent of the time, if you make it beautiful, it will already be fast. So, really, just make it beautiful!

I would always deprioritize sleep, stay up late, wake up early. And honestly, it was one of the most stupid things I did.

These days I make sure to get at least 7 hours of sleep. So that’s for the duration of sleep, doesn’t say much on the quality though.

So for quality I have this simple 3, 2, 1 rule:

• 3 hours before sleep: no food.
• 2 hours before sleep: no drinks.
• 1 hour before sleep: no screens.

I’ve been doing this for a while now and it significantly improved my sleep quality. I wake up more rested and I’m more productive during the day.

The code I’m still ashamed of is an excellent read, reminding us of our responsibility as software developers.

It also reminded me of an experience we had with Bread & Pepper, the web agency we ran from 2009-2013. A government agency approached us to build an iPhone app where you could overlay your face on Einstein. We could have used the money but decided to be frank and tell them that the idea was ridiculous and a waste of public funds.

After a few weeks, we received the response that we were the only ones who told them the truth and picked us to continue the conversation on how to achieve their goals. We got rewarded for our honesty that day.

I tend to pay attention to the feeling of shame, its trying to tell me that I did something against my morals.

Reminder that shame is a strong indicator that you messed up. Be morally strong and avoid that feeling of shame.