A collection of principles that guide how I build, learn, and work. These aren't universal truths—they're beliefs shaped by my experience, failures, and what I've learned along the way.
Ship fast > perfect planning
- Real feedback from users beats hypothetical feature discussions
- Iteration reveals what planning never could
- Working software is the best spec document
Build > study
- You learn more from one shipped project than ten tutorial courses
- The best documentation is code you've written and debugged yourself
- Breaking things (and fixing them) builds intuition faster than reading
Simple solutions > clever code
- Boring tech that works beats cutting-edge tech that might
- Code is written once but read hundreds of times — optimize for clarity
- Delete features and code aggressively — simplicity compounds
Demos > documentation
- Show, don't tell — a working prototype communicates better than paragraphs
- Interactive examples teach faster than written specs
- Good code is self-documenting, great code has examples
Problems > technology
- The best tech stack is the one that solves the user's problem
- Framework enthusiasm fades, but solving real problems never does
- Understanding the problem deeply > knowing every framework shallowly
Sharing accelerates growth
- Writing clarifies thinking — publish your learnings, even if imperfect
- Your "obvious" insight might be someone else's breakthrough
Constraints breed creativity
- Limited time forces you to focus on what actually matters
- Small budgets lead to innovative solutions
- Removing options often reveals the best path forward
User experience beats feature count
- One polished feature beats ten half-finished ones
- Fast, reliable basics > slow, buggy advanced features
- Users remember how it feels, not what it has
Ownership drives quality
- When you own the outcome, you care about the details
- End-to-end responsibility builds better engineers
- "Not my problem" is the enemy of great products
Consistency > intensity
- An hour every day beats marathon coding sessions once a month
- Small daily improvements compound into mastery
- Sustainable pace wins long-term races
These beliefs evolve as I learn and grow. Some might not resonate with you, and that's okay. What matters is that you find principles that guide your own work.