CST438 - Week 4 Reflection


        What is the most interesting thing you have learned in your reading of "Software Engineering at Google"?


        Throughout reading SAG, I have found myself repeatedly fascinated with the granularity with which Google has established software engineering methodology. The level of depth that each respective workflow boasts--whether this is code reviews, ownership, testing, or readability standards--is a departure from my work experience where establishing SOPs has historically been a substantial challenge. It is a miracle that these engineers have managed to get this much written down and canonized. The guardrails and approval steps can appear daunting and restrictive at first glance but ultimately, they serve to provide an engineer the proper runway to make the most effective additions and changes to a code base that they can. These processes prevent slowing development by allowing programmers to focus on writing maintainable, high quality, and scalable code. Witnessing this caliber of refinement in business practice over decades emphasizes the value of investing in well-defined and well planned standard operating procedures.

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