The 10 Laws of IT

Updated: 5 Jan 2007

The 10 Laws of IT

After nearly 20 years working with computers I have finally distilled out the 10 essential Laws of IT. If you work with computers, keep these handy. You will find then useful on a daily basis. They will keep you sane. You will never be stumped for an answer when something goes wrong; a quick scan of the 10 Laws and you can say "Aha, that's Law No. 6!", etc.

0. Never trust a computer!

Never trust a computer!

1. It'll never be that easy

"definitely, this time it will work!"

2. You'll never understand everything that goes wrong

"Did anyone get the number of that truck?"

3. You can tell the pioneers by the arrows in their backs

The leading edge is the bleeding edge

4. Complexity increases exponentially

"Keep it Simple"

"Things should be as simple as possible, but no simpler" - Albert Einstein

Occam's Razor - "never multiply entities needlessly" or ("when you have two competing theories which make exactly the same predictions, the one that is simpler is the better.")