The unwritten laws of software engineering

Last April, I wrote a well-received article about the 13 software engineering laws - Hyrum’s, Conway’s, Zawinski’s, and 10 famous others.

The unwritten laws of software engineering Home Posts The unwritten laws of software engineering The unwritten laws of software engineering Last April, I wrote a well-received article about the 13 software engineering laws - Hyrum’s, Conway’s, Zawinski’s, and 10 famous others. Mar 17, 2026 · Anton Zaides Last April, I wrote a well-received article about the 13 software engineering laws - Hyrum’s, Conway’s, Zawinski’s, and 10 famous others. The common patterns people noticed in software projects and decided to name. But beyond the named laws, there are many unwritten rules every engineer who’s

saved by

• Robert Crocker

related reading

• Software Engineering Splits in Threeadventures.nodeland.dev
• Essays on programming I think about a lot | benkuhn.netbenkuhn.net
• AI is removing the middle class of software engineeringblog.florianherrengt.com
• Write code that is easy to delete, not easy to... — programming is terribleprogrammingisterrible.com
• Mistakes engineers make in large established codebasesseangoedecke.com
• 4 Software Design Principles I Learned the Hard Wayread.engineerscodex.com
• AddyOsmani.com - 21 Lessons From 14 Years at Googleaddyosmani.com
• Advice to Myself When Starting Out as a Software Developer - The Pragmatic Engineerblog.pragmaticengineer.com
• Things they didn't teach you about Software Engineeringvadimkravcenko.com
• Advice for new software devs who've read all those other advice essays • Buttondownbuttondown.email
• A Bunch of Programming Advice I'd Give To Myself 15 Years Ago | Marcus' Blogmbuffett.com
• Things unlearnedscattered-thoughts.net