Motivation is undoubtedly the single greatest influence on how well people perform. Most productivity studies have found that motivation has a stronger influence on productivity than any other factor.

A brute force solution that works is better than an elegant solution that doesn't work.

95% on content and the computer language remains the same.

A blanket attempt to avoid mistakes is the biggest mistake of all.

Good visual layout shows the logical structure of a program.

Building software implies various stages of planning, preparation and execution that vary in kind and degree depending on what's being built. [...] Building a four-foot tower requires a steady hand, a level surface, and 10 undamaged beer cans. Building a tower 100 times that size doesn't merely require 100 times as many beer cans.

Even when you have skilled, motivated, hard-working people, the wrong team structure can undercut their efforts instead of catapulting them to success. A poor team structure can increase development time, reduce quality, damage morale, increase turnover, and ultimately lead to project cancellation.

Heuristic is an algorithm in a clown suit. It’s less predictable, it’s more fun, and it comes without a 30-day, money-back guarantee.

Engineering is the application of scientific principles toward practical ends. If the engineering isn't practical, it's bad engineering.

The trouble with quick and dirty is that dirty remains long after quick has been forgotten.

The primary purpose of software estimation is not to predict a project's outcome it is to determine whether a project's targets are realistic enough to allow the project to be controlled to meet them.

The job of the average manager requires a shift in focus every few minutes. The job of the average software developer requires that the developer not shift focus more often than every few hours.

It's hard enough to find an error in your code when you're looking for it it's even harder when you've assumed your code is error-free.

Good code is its own best documentation.

Software projects fail for one of two general reasons: the project team lacks the knowledge to conduct a software project successfully, or the project team lacks the resolve to conduct a project effectively.

It's OK to figure out murder mysteries, but you shouldn't need to figure out code. You should be able to read it.