We all have been learning the Laws of Physics, Chemistry, and Maths from childhood and they teach us how the world works, but then to be successful in life we have a few other laws that make one’s life easy and help the person to success in all aspects of his life. Here I will walk you through 5 such laws and then we will see how to utilize them in our day-to-day life, and mostly in our IT world.
So here are the cool five laws –
- Murphy’s Laws – “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.“
- Kidlin’s Law – “If you can write the problem down clearly then the matter is half solved“
- Gilbert’s Law – “The biggest problem with a job is that no one tells you what to do.“
- Wilson’s Law – “If you prioritize knowledge and talent, money will always come.“
- Falkland’s Law – “Postpone decision making and don’t think about it if it’s not needed right now.“
So let’s deep dive into it.
Murphy’s law
Murphy’s law is a popular adage that states: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” It is used to describe the tendency of seemingly insignificant and easily preventable errors to have significant negative effects.
Edward A. Murphy Jr. was born in 1917, and he was one of the prominent engineers in the US Air Force who conducted experiments on rockets in 1949. The idea behind Murphy’s law is to emphasize the importance of being prepared for the worst and to encourage people to take proactive measures to prevent problems from occurring in the first place.
Let’s take an example in our IT world –
One of the Base principles of Reactive Design and Architecture is Let it Fail. Even in distributed programming and data storage, the CAP Theorem states that only two of the following three are guarantees i.e Consistency (C), Availability (A), and Partition Tolerance (P). So in the case of CP and AP, we must design the system keeping in mind the system to continue providing its services even when a component of the system fails, so in general prepare for the worst.
Kidlin’s Law
Kidlin’s Laws are based on the following statement:
“If you can write the problem down clearly then the matter is half solved” and this is the best law of all. The statement is clearly depicted and allows a person to concentrate on understanding the problem before solving it.
Let’s take an example in our IT world –
Before starting on a problem or developing a feature in a project, the first base that every team does is story planning or spring planning. Defining the story properly with the problem statement, covering the risks, and defining edge cases, acceptance criteria, and maybe some developer notes wins the battle half.
In Knoldus we do run a Discovery Phase where we also create a detailed document on the problem statements and their whereabouts and possible solutions.
Gilbert’s Law
Gilbert Lafayette Laws (March 11, 1838 — April 25, 1907) was an American politician, newspaper publisher, and businessman, he states that “The biggest problem with a job is that no one tells you what to do.“
Let’s take an example in our IT world –
In your day-to-day project work, it’s not that your colleague is not there to help you out or seniors are not there to guide you but at the end of the day you are the one responsible to complete the work with efficiency. One should not just follow the defined approach but should think outside of the box and possible solutions to the problem, and this is what the law states no one will tell you what to do and how to do it perfectly but you must learn to do that.
Wilson’s Law
“If you prioritize knowledge and talent, money will always come.“
Now this principle of life goes with all, you are an employee or employer, and it fits in everyone’s fortresses. For an Employee, if you are up-to-date in your industry, have a defined goal, and focus on learning then no one can beat you and you are never out of work. By focusing on developing your skills and abilities, and acquiring knowledge in areas that are valuable and in demand, you increase your chances of success and the likelihood of being able to command higher salaries and benefits.
Similarly for an employee, if he respects his employee and chose, nurtures, and awards his right talent, he is never out of good employees and eventually business. That being said, investing in your knowledge and talent is always a good idea. One should have a well-defined Roadmap and Vison to succeed.
Falkland’s Law –
It state’s that – “Postpone decision making and don’t think about it if it’s not needed right now.”
Postponing decision-making can be an effective strategy in some cases, especially if the decision is not urgent or if there is not enough information available to make an informed choice. This can allow you to gather more information, consider different options, and weigh the potential risks and benefits of each option.
For example, if you are faced with a complex decision that requires a significant amount of time and resources to research, it may make sense to wait until you have all the necessary information before making a decision. Similarly, if a decision is not needed right away, it can be helpful to take a step back and let things develop, giving you more time to gather information and reflect on your options.
Now in the It world when developing a service or an application we sometimes do thinking or over-designing and start solving the problems that are not present or can be tackled afterward also. Hence the term comes KIS, KEEP IT SIMPLE man.