16 Tips for Cleaner Code

By Jeremy Duvall, for the Forbes Technology Council.
This story was originally published on Forbes.com on November 4, 2022.

If left unchecked, sloppy coding habits on the part of developers can become a thorn in the side of a tech leader. It’s an issue that doesn’t simply affect a single developer’s work—it can cause multiple problems, from bugs to frustration to delays in production that impact fellow team members and clients.

There can be multiple reasons why developers create less-than-ideal code, but with the right preemptive strategies, tech leaders can guide their team members to better habits that yield positive results in terms of productivity, speed, accuracy and team morale. Here, 16 members of Forbes Technology Council share some specific advice to help both tech leaders and developers ensure their teams are producing better-quality, cleaner code.

4. Manage Morale, Not Metrics

Bad code is the worst. You can mostly avoid this by focusing on managing the morale of your team members and not metrics and delivery dates. The reason you have bad code is that you’re going too fast or you’ve hired a team of hackers, not engineers. Give your company the autonomy to embrace quality-centric practices such as test-driven development. – Jeremy Duvall, 7Factor Software