Implementing KISS

Why KISS

As I continue my journey in software development, I frequently encounter a lot of principles, such as OOP, DRY, and SOLID. I totally embrace these principles because they provide a path towards the best practices and streamlines the overall development process. However, I’ve found that KISS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle is the one that has assisted me the most. KISS is important to me because it helps to not complicate things.

For example, when I’m starting a new project, I try to form a plan of action (usually by writing some ideas on paper). It’s usually when I’m sitting in front of a blank code editor page that I start scratching my head on where to begin, or how to begin, or what to do first...you get the idea. With so many possible paths, it’s so easy to feel overwhelmed to the point that I start trying to do several different things. Trying to solve several new problems all at once, especially if I still need to do more research, rarely turns out well.

Implementing KISS

This is where KISS comes into play for me. By having an end goal of keeping things simple, it forces me to break things down into smaller pieces. Often times I realize that my initial breakdown was not simple enough and I need to break it down even further (i.e. do one thing that I already know how to do or Google and find a point of reference quickly).

Which brings me to my next point. Don’t recreate the wheel. I find myself trying to implement things or do something when there’s a snippet I already have somewhere or a npm package that already does it. Keep it simple by not doing unnecessary work, so I can focus on the unique or more complex parts.

How KISS Helps

One way I’ve become better at KISS is by paying attention to other developers and putting new things I learn in my toolbox. Maybe I accomplished a task using some convoluted method, but if I ask a more experienced developer for her/his opinion, I realize that I could have achieved a much simpler solution by doing it in a different way.

Another thing that has helped me is focusing on one thing at a time. At this stage of the developer game, it’s much simpler to learn/accomplish one thing really well before moving on to something else (as opposed to trying to become good at 7 different things at one time).

For example, instead of trying to become really good with both React and Redux at the same time, it’s best to focus on just React. I’ve found that just by focusing on React, it has made learning Redux less complicated. Plus I get the added benefit of practicing my new React skills!

Eventually, I’ll get to that day when I can pick up several things at once, but I recognize that today is not that day.

KISS It

This is really hard not to do, but I try not to just jump into something new after accomplishing a coding goal. For example, I understand how the various array methods work, but I’ll probably end up having to re-learn them all over again if I never use them. Also, I used to be the type of coder who thought it was important to remember every single detail about everything, but have come to realize there’s a fine balance between knowing what to memorize and what to look up.

KISS Success

I’m going to close out by saying that once I started keeping KISS as one of my goals, it has helped to keep me focused on a smaller scale. The more I think about the building blocks, the simpler is my approach to the design process, which translates to code that is more readable and easier to maintain.