10 Commandments for software(development)

10 years ago, I posted 10 Commandments for software(development).

Since then, nothing much has changed.

Therefore, once again:

1. You shall be swift and accurate in responding to the user's commands and you shall therefore not keep the user waiting for something he did not ask for. (also: you shall not mislead the end user by showing animated gifs as if you were working hard)


2. You shall be swift, accurate, clear and understandable in communicating with your user.


3. You shall not waste memory nor shall you waist processor time or network bandwidth.


4. You shall not offer the user more functionality and information than he can handle.


5. You shall not distract the user with information he does not want or need at that particular moment.


6. You shall not force the user to take action when he does not need to, that is: when work is not in jeopardy.


7. You shall not force the user to unnecessarily update or upgrade.


8. You shall not force the user to uniquely commit to one technology, company, organisation or community.


9. You shall not seduce the user to communicate only by computer and thus neglect face-to-face communication.


10. You shall not make your favorite platform or technology into a religion.