1. The only data you can't work with later is the data you never captured in the first place.

2. (Closely related to the above) The only code you can't iterate/refactor/improve later is the code you never wrote in the first place.

3. "Data dominates. If you've chosen the right data structures and organized things well, the algorithms will almost always be self-evident. Data structures, not algorithms, are central to programming." - Rob Pike

4. Locking is evil. The actor model is good.

5. Choose & use boring technologies.

6. Modularity is extremely important. Corollary: getting the interfaces right is paramount. Another corollary: functional programming is very useful.

7. Your 'desert island choice' for testing should always be integration.

8. "Commit early, commit often" & with abandon. rebase -i will clean up the mess later.

9. "Never overestimate the evolutionary; never underestimate the revolutionary." - Dr. Clint Staley (thanks Clint!)

10. Use tools with the lowest complexity possible to solve the problem at hand.

11. No specification survives contact with implementation.

Where not attributed, the words here are my own, with full acknowledgment that they may have been inspiried by earlier giants upon whose shoulders we all rest.

In no particular order save for the order I added them here.