Barry Briggs has 14 rules. Among them:
1. Great software is built by small teams. If you’re building a great BIG software product use lots of small teams. The team leaders should be able to carry on a civilized conversation with one another; conversely, they should not be trying to torpedo each others’ careers behind their backs.
2. Great software projects always, always have one person who gets the big picture. He/she codes. Repeat: he/she codes. This person is called the architect.
3. Software “architects” that don’t code are not software architects. Sorry.
7. Test/QA is not there to find your bugs. (Read that twice, please.) You are there to find and fix your bugs. (Read that ten times.) Test/QA is responsible for telling manager(s) and customer(s) if your code is any good, and if it’s ready to ship.
11. Every coder must spend at least one day per year listening to a customer complaining bitterly about his/her product.
