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When you practice Test-Driven Development, you know your tests are running.

A coworker (we’ll call him Scott) recently wrote some code and tests without practicing TDD. He wrote the production code first, then wrote the tests. When he ran the test suite, none of the tests failed, so he assumed his newly-written tests had passed and that his newly-written code was well-tested and working correctly. A fair assumption, given the circumstances. However, he didn’t look at the output very closely; otherwise, he would’ve seen that his tests didn’t get executed with the rest of the suite. They didn’t run at all.

Here’s the problem: we work hard to make our assumptions appear to be true.

When we write the production code first, we write tests under the assumption that they will pass. This makes it easier for us to believe the tests did pass after the test suite has run. We always assume the code we just wrote is bug-free, so when we see something that makes it appear that way, we latch on to that idea. It makes us less careful in the verification phase, and this may cause us to miss something, as was the case with Scott.

Turn this story around. Let’s say Scott had written a test first. He then would’ve run the test suite, expecting that test to fail. When he saw that the entire suite of tests passed, he would’ve discovered that his test hadn’t run. Then he could have fixed the problem, run the test suite again, and watched that test fail. From there he could’ve written the necessary code to make the test pass, and he would’ve known with confidence that his test passed and that his code worked correctly.

This isn’t the only reason to do TDD, but it’s one more reason I’ll continue to do it.

Want to learn TDD? Kent Beck’s book,Test Driven Development: By Example is excellent.

Never Eat Alone is an excellent book.

The premise: if you want to be successful, build relationships with people.

Get to know the people you work with, the people who live next door, the people around you. Find out what they want and help them get it. But make sure your motives are pure; if you help people just to get something from them, you probably won’t get it. Help people; expect nothing in return.

I like to help my friends; I’m sure you do, too. I have a friend right now who’s looking for a job, and I’d do anything in my power to help him get one. It’s not that I want anything from him – I just care about him and want him to get what he wants.

Build relationships with people who are like you and with people who are different from you. Find out what they want, what challenges they’re facing, and help them to overcome those challenges and achieve their goals. When you do, they’ll like you and want to help you.

Relationships aren’t only good for you and your career; they’re good for your company, too. As a software consultant, I know that my company benefits when my client likes me, because a client who likes me is more likely to do more
business with my company.

Once you’ve built relationships, be willing to ask for help. If you’re looking for a job, need advice, or are having trouble selling your product, ask someone to help you. If they care about you and are able to help, they will.

This is only a brief overview; Ferrazzi has a lot more to say about other topics, like not being a jerk, connecting with connectors, and building your brand. If you want to learn more, go get the book.