Keep it simple

For me one of the hardest tasks during project development is keeping it simple. We have a lot of tools to help us: TDD, conventions, pair programming, code review, but sometimes they are not enough.

Time goes by and the project usually gets more and more complex, which we tend to think is natural since the product is growing. But it doesn't need to be that way. Simple code doesn't have a link to a complex product.

A teacher of mine once said that "complex is a group of a lot of simple solutions". That changed me forever. Code can be like that too: small and simple solutions to solving a complex problem. But don't be confused by things like micro services, in fact most of the time it's the opposite.

Being the one responsible for your code, you should know what is the smallest step necessary for it to work considering the size of the team and project. If you're using Django you should keep it a Django-like code, based on the python principles and so on. Most of the time complex code is born when the code environment isn't well defined.

So when aiming to reach a simple code you have to focus on what you are developing. Be cautious when deciding to use new and sometimes less known frameworks and structures. Time and again simple functions will perform better than a misused complex class.