Stage 2 · Lesson 4 of 8
Choosing the problem and saying no
You will find more problems than you can fix, so is part of . Compare the candidates by impact for the effort. How many people does it hurt, how often, and how long would a fix take?
Pick the one with the clearest cost that you can actually finish, and agree it with your manager. Saying no, or "not now", to lower-value requests is part of the job. Do it openly and give a reason: "I am fixing the release process this , so I can look at that in two weeks."
Common trapsaying yes to everything. It spreads you thin and leaves several problems half fixed instead of one done.
A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 1 cheat sheet entry come with the full roadmap. Unlock
Resources for this stage
Start with· follow one of these
- BookFreeSoftware Engineering at Google
Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck and Hyrum Wright · Intermediate
The chapters on testing, CI and large-scale changes: fixing problems at team scale
- BookPaidThe Pragmatic Programmer
Hunt and Thomas · Intermediate · About $45
Automation, broken windows and orthogonality: the habits behind leverage