Timeless principles, reinterpreted for shipping great software and building a career that compounds.
1) Bushidō — Honor, Loyalty, Courage 🛡️
Dev translation: Keep your word, protect quality, own tough calls. Apply it:
Say “no” to shortcuts that break SLAs.
- Give honest estimates; escalate risks early.
- Defend the user in design/code reviews.
2) Kaizen — Continuous Improvement 🔁
Dev translation: Small daily upgrades beat rare big rewrites. Apply it:
Leave every file a bit cleaner (naming, tests).
- Track tiny metrics (MTTR, flaky tests) and trim weekly.
- Keep a “dev debt” queue and burn one item per sprint.
3) Gaman — Patient Endurance 🧗
Dev translation: Stay calm under broken builds and vague specs. Apply it:
Log facts first; fix feelings later.
- Timebox spikes; document what you learned.
Celebrate progress, not perfection.
4) Kintsugi — Scars as Strength 🪡
Dev translation: Turn incidents into assets. Apply it:
Blameless post-mortems → add tests/runbooks/alerts.
Share “what went wrong & what we changed” notes.
- Use past outages to guide design guardrails.
5) Zanshin — Alert Awareness 🏹
(Often misspelled “Zanhin.”) Dev translation: Maintain context and focus, even after “done.” Apply it:
Watch dashboards after deploys (15–30 min).
- Keep a “What could break next?” checklist.
- Remove dead feature flags before they rot.
6) Wabi-sabi — Useful Imperfection 🍃
Dev translation: Ship clear, simple solutions now; refine over time. Apply it:
Prefer boring, proven tech for core paths.
- Write the docs you wish existed—even if rough.
- Optimize for readability over cleverness.
7) Mushin — Clear, Uncluttered Mind 🧘
Dev translation: Focused deep work > reactive thrash. Apply it:
Protect 90-minute focus blocks (no chat, no meetings).
- Batch interrupts (email/PRs) twice a day.
- One WIP task per dev—finish > start.
8) Shu-Ha-Ri — Learn → Adapt → Transcend 🥋
Dev translation: Master fundamentals, then bend rules with judgment. Apply it:
Shu: follow team standards strictly (style, tests, ADRs).
Ha: adapt patterns to context with data.
Ri: invent only when constraints demand it.
9) Omoiyari — Empathy & Consideration 🤝
Dev translation: Build for real humans—users, teammates, on-call you. Apply it:
UX: reduce steps; surface errors plainly.
- DX: great READMEs, examples, and one-command setup.
- On-call: humane alerts (actionable, throttled).
10) Radical Accountability (Modern Reframing of “Seppuku”) ✅
H
istorical
s
eppuku
w
as ritual suicide—I
do not endorse or romanticize self-harm.
In a healthy, professional context, reinterpret this as total responsibility for outcomes.
D
ev translation: Own the result, fix it, learn, move forward. Apply it:“It broke on my change” → revert, hotfix, post-mortem.
- Communicate early; don’t hide risk behind jargon.
- Close the loop: measure that the fix actually works.
Weekly Samurai Drills (5 minutes each) 🗡️
Bug First: write a failing test before patching.
One-Pager ADR: context → options → trade-off → decision.
Delete Something: kill one dead feature/flag/end-point.
Refactor Friday: rename/extract to make intent obvious.
Quiet Block: one uninterrupted 45–90 min deep-work session.
Why this works
These principles reduce ego, increase clarity, and turn chaos into systems. Practice them and you’ll ship steadier releases, make saner decisions, and build a reputation for reliability—the mark of a modern developer-samurai. ⚔️✨
If this resonated, hit reply with the principle you’ll try this week—I’ll feature top takeaways in the next issue.
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