Leave the campground cleaner than you found it

Motivation

Known as the Boy Scout Rule, (possibly) first introduced by the Boy Scouts of America. This simple rule that works great for camping in nature can also be applied to programming: when you're done with a task, always check in code in a cleaner state than when you checked it out.

Applicability

This should be daily routine for a software engineer. Make sure you do not pollute your regular commits with clean up actions.

See also

The Xebia Essentials Cards

This page is part of the Xebia Essentials, a pack of flash cards about Software Development Done Right. You can get your own deck of Essentials cards in the Xebia store (sold out).

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