As a developer, I spend a most of my time working on a series of assumptions. From assumptions that I have understood the project requirements, to assumptions that I have correctly predicted how the various system components will interact.

Recently I encounter a situation where a colleague assumption could have resulted in him making what appeared to be a simple refactor, but would instead have resulted in incorrect output from the system.

I feel my below quote’s sum up how I approach assumption in systems I build.

assumptions.. they cause fuck ups..

and

I assume that my assumptions are mostly wrong… but that has never stopped me from assuming that things work the way they should..

The point I am trying to make here is that we all need to make assumptions in our day to day work, and we need to feel confident in those assumptions, while ensuring we are ready to pivot when(if) those assumptions prove to be wrong.