Violent Psychopaths Everywhere
Violent Psychopaths Everywhere
We should apply the quote of violent psychopaths in all of our assignments.
Quote
You have probably read the following quote:
Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
This quote is telling us to make other people’s life easier. And if you think they are violent psychopaths, you will make sure they have a good time with what you leave behind.
We should apply this quote everywhere to make people’s life easier.
Always [do something] as if the guy who [receives this something] will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
Examples
A few examples of how to apply the quote in other aspects of our work.
Pull Requests
Always make pull requests as if the guy who is going to review them will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
Make sure to add a description of changes when sending a PR. Also, add screenshots or videos highlighting differences. And add tests. Prepare the PR so that the reviewer has a good time.
Task creation
Always create tasks as if the guy who is going to take them will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
When creating an issue on Jira or whatever other project management tool, explain the task entirely. Whoever takes it over shouldn’t need to go and talk to three or four people to figure out how to do it. Add links to the relevant documentation, design mockups when required, etc.
Documentation
Always document the project as if the guy who will work on it will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
Imagine that the next person joining our team is a violent psychopath. Is the onboarding process ready? Do we have good documentation to set up the project? Is the readme clear and up to date?
Stakeholder Management
Always communicate the team’s progress as if the team's stakeholders will be violent psychopaths who know where you live.
A common problem in companies is the transparency of what’s going on in other teams. This lack of transparency is more of a communication problem than a sign of secrecy. But what if we thought that the team’s stakeholders were violent psychopaths? In that case, we might want to improve our communication, for example, by creating a weekly newsletter with status updates, as Gergely Orosz recommends.
Do the Work
In conclusion, take extra care of each assignment that interacts with another person.
Many times, the extra work you put in might go unnoticed. Yet, the people who notice this additional work will always be grateful and will want you on their team.
Always [do something] as if the guy who [receives this something] will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
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And thanks to Michal, Sebastià, JC and Jocelyn for reviewing this article 🙏