Importance of data modeling

It's obviously important to do some amount of data modeling. What's not so obvious is when to stop. It's like commenting your code: newer programmers just don't know when to quit. When you're a little insecure, adding comments and metadata are a great security-blanket that make you feel busy when you've in fact stopped making forward progress and are just reiterating (or perhaps teaching yourself) what's already been accomplished.

-- Steve Yegge

Looking for the right excuse

This is the first warning sign that a project is in trouble. Quietly, our subconscious starts looking around for an excuse, deniability and someone to blame. It gives us confidence and peace of mind.

People who have a built-in all-purpose excuse (middle child syndrom, wrong astrology sign, some slight at the hands of the system long ago) often end up failing - they have an excuse ready to go, so it's easier to back off when the going is rough.

Here's an alternative to the excuse-driven life: What happens if you relentlessly avoid looking for excuses at all?

-- Seth Godin

Think before commenting - Best Practices for Commenting your code

Whenever you think, “This code needs a comment” follow that thought with, “How could I modify the code so its purpose is obvious?”

Talk with your code, not your comments.

-- 5 Best Practices for Commenting Your Code

About comments - Five best practices

"Comments are codesmell

Comments are little signposts in your code explaining it to future archaeologists that desperately need to understand how 21st century man sorted lists of purchase orders."

-- 5 Best Practices for Commenting Your Code