The #1 measure of good code isn’t cleverness, performance, or even correctness—it’s adaptability.

Code that survives and thrives bends without breaking. Throughout my career, I’ve consistently prioritized building for change over premature optimization. (With occasional learning moments, I’ll admit.)

“Getting It Right First” Is The Wrong Goal

You will never get it right the first time. And that’s not a failure—it’s a feature of how innovation actually works. Instead of chasing perfection upfront, embrace the power of iterative excellence. Give yourself the opportunity to deliver, learn, and evolve.

The “Easy to Implement” Principles That Pay Dividends

These aren’t revolutionary—they’re fundamental. The magic is in actually applying them:

• Single Responsibility Principle - Each piece does one thing well
• Dependency Injection - Don’t hardcode what can change
• Configuration Over Convention (Where It Matters) - Make the changeable configurable
• Fail Fast, Fail Loud - Know immediately when something breaks

Principles in Action

• Implement clean interfaces and separation of concerns
• Write tests that give you confidence to make changes with impunity
• Use consistent naming and structure for optimal comprehension
• Deploy feature flags for controlled feature velocity
• Build monitoring and observability for fast and constant feedback

The Bottom Line

In our industry, the survivors aren’t the ones who write perfect code—they’re the ones who evolve and write code that evolves with them.

As a tangent… this is partially why, for now, I would gamble on senior devs and architects outlasting the AI bubble.