I'm only human. I make plenty of mistakes.
Early in my career I thought that mistakes where to be avoided. I rock climbed and mistakes could be at best scary. In software development the mistakes I made were to be quickly forgotten as I was learning so fast I needed to focus on what I was doing. Many of my mistakes were because of the fast pace of learning systems, languages, libraries and the like. The software world was so large and I wanted to learn as much as possible.
I no longer try to know everything. I just need to know just enough.
Now days I cherish watching and understanding how mistakes are made (including my own). Many of my mistakes now days are still due to incomplete understanding of an issue., but it's far less than it used to be. I now take time to think before deciding if I have enough information to provide valuable input. I've also adopted the fortunate habit of asking what I call stupid questions. These questions are to verify basic information about the issue and more important, finding the right person to ask the question to!
For a project of sufficient size there are any number of opinions about how someone thinks a feature should work vs how it should work. Understanding who should be asked and the questions to ask are critical for a specific topic.
One of my habits is to listen to aspects of projects around the office to understand bits and pieces of what is involved. When someone asks me a question, I can either answer them or route them to a better source of the information, during which I listen to the answer. This again is hidden away in my memory for when / if I need it. I basically repeat this for years until I amass a wealth of information about projects that have been or are being developed.
All of this helps me to understand enough information to lessen the number of mistakes I make.
I no longer try to know everything. I just need to know just enough.
Now days I cherish watching and understanding how mistakes are made (including my own). Many of my mistakes now days are still due to incomplete understanding of an issue., but it's far less than it used to be. I now take time to think before deciding if I have enough information to provide valuable input. I've also adopted the fortunate habit of asking what I call stupid questions. These questions are to verify basic information about the issue and more important, finding the right person to ask the question to!
For a project of sufficient size there are any number of opinions about how someone thinks a feature should work vs how it should work. Understanding who should be asked and the questions to ask are critical for a specific topic.
One of my habits is to listen to aspects of projects around the office to understand bits and pieces of what is involved. When someone asks me a question, I can either answer them or route them to a better source of the information, during which I listen to the answer. This again is hidden away in my memory for when / if I need it. I basically repeat this for years until I amass a wealth of information about projects that have been or are being developed.
All of this helps me to understand enough information to lessen the number of mistakes I make.
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