I have to admit it: I can’t do any kind of development without my trustworthy pencil and a good amount of paper.

It’s not just to have something to scratch while I think how to solve the problem at hands. I find it very difficult to write some code without first drawing the idea and the pseudo-algorithm behind it.

To do that I use my own sub-set of the UML: boxes, polygons, arrows and labels. This allows me to quickly specify the exact behavior of the solution before writing any actual code.

Other method I often use after drawing the algorithm, is to define the set of tasks I need to finish the implementation. It is often required to refactor or change some other code or structure, so I write a set of labels with an empty checkbox at the front. As I write the code, I start checking the boxes, and that gives me a warm feeling that I’m getting the job done.

So, which methods do you use to be more efficient while writing code ?