Indeed one of the best ways to deflect attacks is to make it look like they're succeeding. It's the software equivalent of playing dead.

Listen to your customers, not your competitors.

So if you want to get things done, you positively have to understand at any given point in time what is the most important thing to get done right now and if you're not doing it, you're not making progress at the fastest possible rate.

A user interface is well-designed when the program behaves exactly how the user thought it would.

Life is a bit hard sometimes, and sometimes you have to step up and fight fights that you never signed up for.

Talk to your customers. Find out what they need. Don't pay any attention to the competition. They're not relevant to you.

Never put yourself in a position that will put yourself at risk if you make the wrong decision. We spent cash on everything. It's fashionable to make 'bet the company' decisions, but don't do it.