incompl

The most important programming skill I can think of has nothing to do with programming.  It is the ability to think of every task in the context of the software that is being made.

The task: write an HTML parser in one week.  A good programmer gets it done.  A great one explains why the project is better off using an existing HTML parser.

The task: write a function to export a data structure to XML in three days.  A good programmer gets it done.  A great programmer asks why, finds out the reason for the task is irrelevant, and spends three days doing something useful.

The task: write a class that encapsulates some inventory business logic in a day.  A good programmer gets it done.  A great programmer thinks about it, nods, then gets it done.

If you’re worried that if you followed this process you’d often get the response “Just do it!” then your management may have some serious problems.