The need for tooling and the need for mastering your tools
Mastery of tooling is easily the most successful nerdsnipe you can do in an org.  It abounds with metaphors to sharp physical tools that are ironically required to perform tasks safely. And, to an extent, it is obvious to see that people with more mastery over their toolchest will be able to outperform those of lesser mastery.<p>However, it is also easy to find evidence that quality of tooling does <i>not</i> translate to quality products in software.  Not the least piece of evidence is Linux and the rise of free as in beer tooling.<p>I think it can easily diverge into navel gazing.  It isn&#x27;t that tooling is unimportant.  But that it should not become the focus.  If you want to make quality products, obsess over the quality of your product.  Don&#x27;t get distracted by what you know about what went into it.  Focus on the product.  Period.<p>Yes, you will at times have to settle for a proxy measure.  No, they will not be perfect.  Nor can they be.  Don&#x27;t fixate on a single metric, but collect many and constantly ask yourself what the metric is telling you about the product.  Not about itself.