Code wants to be simple... I had to give up the idea that I had the perfect vision of the system to which the system had to conform. Instead, I had to accept that I was only the vehicle for the system expressing its own desire for simplicity. My vision could shape initial direction, and my attention to the desires of the code could affect how quickly and how well the system found its desired shape, but the system is riding me much more than I am riding the system.

Testing is not the point. The point is about responsibility.

The system metaphor is a story that everyone--customers, programmers, and managers--can tell about how the system works.

Make it work, make it right, make it fast.

Listening, Testing, Coding, Designing. That's all there is to software. Anyone who tells you different is selling something.

The community isn't nearly as afraid as it thinks it is.

A plan is an example of what could happen, not a prediction of what will happen.