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Software development is learning

In every software project you have 2 sides: the problem space and the solution space. The problem space is typically owned by a product owner, he or she knows the problem they want to solve. The solution space is owned by the developers, they know how to solve those problems.

Easy right? Unfortunately it isn’t so easy as it sound. Product owners don’t always succeed in explaining the problem (or describe a workaround instead of the real problem). As a result, developers don’t always get it right the first time and build the wrong solution.

The most important lesson you can take with you on any software project is that is all about learning. As you are learning nobody expects that you get it right from the first time. Instead somebody points you your mistakes and gives you feedback.

So how can we become better in writing software? Not by typing faster and certainly not by making no mistakes.

We become better by having better feedback faster. The key is shorter feedback loops; the compiler who tells you you’ve made a mistake, a smoke test that immediately warns you that there is a problem with a build, a user that gives feedback when you demonstrate a new feature, …

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