The only constant is change

Software development is not an exact science.

Let me repeat that.

Software development is not an exact science.

During my career I've never had the same team, the same project and the same business context twice. Although I learned from all those experiences, and I've extracted principles and rules of thumb each new company, team and project is a completely new experience.

In the heart of all modern software development processes lies the feedback loop.

Try something. See how it goes. Change based on the feedback.  The hear of software engineering lies in the continuous usage of the feedback loop on all level and dimensions of a software project, from the individual coder, from the dynamics in the team, from the project management standpoint and from the interaction with the client.

When an engineer understands this simple fact all the rules, all the processes pale to the simple fact that their are all just tools used in the service of maximizing the gains from the simplest principle of the feedback loop.

Governing a software project there are multiple forces. The team that builds it, the business that sells it and the customers that buy/use it. The huge mental strain that goes into building a software product and its plasticity render it completely impossible to fathom at the begging, to set it hard and simple to build as a hause that can be designed by a single person then rebuild across multiple locations by less skilled people. But on the other side its plasticity render it hugely flexible, and prone to changes and adaptation.

A software product is never fixed. The people who build it are never constant. The people who want it are never constant and the constant the product operates in is never constant. Accepting that the only state a software team exists is a state of fluctuating chaos a consolamce of sort can be found that are never right answers and that the only truth is a process of continuous improvement and adaptability.

Change is the only constant in life.

Change is pain.

Change is growth.

To survive one must accept constant change.