Code, Leadership & the Remote Dev Life

Author: Mike Lopez

  • 10 PHP Performance Pitfalls and How to Fix Them Like a Pro

    10 PHP Performance Pitfalls and How to Fix Them Like a Pro

    Let’s be real—most PHP performance issues aren’t caused by exotic edge cases. They’re caused by small mistakes that quietly accumulate until your server starts sweating.

    Over the years, I’ve fallen into every performance trap in the book—and watched others do the same. So here’s a list of the top 10 PHP performance pitfalls I’ve seen (and fixed) in the wild.

    If you’re leading or maintaining a PHP codebase, this one’s for you.

    1. Loading Everything All at Once

    If your app is pulling thousands of rows from MySQL just to paginate them later, that’s not pagination—that’s punishment.

    Fix: Always use LIMIT and OFFSET in your queries. Better yet, consider cursor-based pagination for large datasets.

    2. Too Many Database Queries

    The “N+1 query problem” is a classic. Looping over 50 users and querying each user’s posts separately? That’s 51 queries when one will do.

    Fix: Use joins, or fetch data in batches. If you’re using an ORM, dig into eager loading.

    3. Uncached Configs and Constants

    Calling get_setting('something') in every request when it could’ve been cached once? Yeah, that adds up.

    Fix: Use config caching (php artisan config:cache in Laravel, for example), or store static settings in memory (APCu, Redis, etc).

    4. Heavy Bootstrapping

    Every request doesn’t need to boot your entire app if you’re just handling a webhook or an API call.

    Fix: Segment your application entry points and avoid overloading minimal-use cases with full bootstrap costs.

    5. Overusing Autoloading in Loops

    Autoloading classes inside tight loops leads to IO and CPU hits you didn’t ask for.

    Fix: Make sure classes used in loops are already loaded. Composer’s classmap optimization (--optimize-autoloader) helps a ton.

    6. Ignoring Output Buffering

    PHP sends data to the browser in chunks. But if your app flushes output inefficiently, that can slow things down or spike memory.

    Fix: Use output buffering strategically. Most frameworks handle this, but know what’s happening under the hood.

    7. Unoptimized Regular Expressions

    Regex is powerful—but expensive. One careless pattern can grind your CPU.

    Fix: Benchmark your patterns. Avoid backtracking traps. And seriously, don’t use regex when strpos() will do.

    8. Not Using Opcache

    If you’re not running PHP with Opcache enabled, you’re throwing away free performance.

    Fix: Turn on Opcache in your php.ini and monitor the cache hit rate. It’s easy and gives instant gains.

    9. No Profiling or Monitoring

    How can you fix slow code if you don’t know what’s slow?

    Fix: Use tools like Blackfire, Xdebug, or Laravel Telescope. Even a simple log of request durations can point you to issues fast.

    10. Overengineering

    The worst performance killer? Complexity.

    I’ve seen apps slow down just from trying to be too clever: abstracting every function, writing unnecessary layers of logic, or throwing design patterns at problems that didn’t exist.

    Fix: Write simple code that does the job. Readability often equals performance.

    Final Thought

    The truth is, most PHP performance issues are 20% code and 80% awareness. If you’re mindful of what your app is actually doing—how it queries, caches, renders, and routes—you’re already ahead of the pack.

    So the next time your app feels sluggish, don’t panic. Run through this list, fix what you can, and move on like a pro.

  • Scaling PHP Projects: Management Tactics That Actually Work for Remote Teams

    Scaling PHP Projects: Management Tactics That Actually Work for Remote Teams

    Scaling a PHP project while leading a remote team can feel like juggling fire—with one hand tied behind your back.

    The good news? It’s not magic. It’s management. And if you do it right, it actually scales.

    Here’s what’s worked for me.

    1. Codebase ≠ Product ≠ Project

    This sounds obvious, but it’s a trap I’ve fallen into more than once.

    Just because the code is growing doesn’t mean the product is scaling. And just because your project is active doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

    Scaling requires clarity across all three:

    • Codebase: modular, testable, readable
    • Product: valuable, usable, maintainable
    • Project: scoped, predictable, prioritized

    If even one of those lags behind, the whole thing eventually buckles.

    2. Document Decisions, Not Just Code

    Remote teams lose context faster.

    Every workaround, workaround-for-the-workaround, and architectural debate? Log it somewhere. It doesn’t have to be fancy—a decisions.md, a Google doc, even an email to the team.

    What matters is that new devs (and future you) know why things were built the way they were.

    3. Choose Process That Scales With Autonomy

    Remote PHP teams thrive when they’re empowered. But empowerment without direction is chaos.

    My tactic? Light process, heavy alignment:

    • Clear roadmaps (3–6 months out)
    • Weekly async updates
    • Monthly syncs for big-picture recalibration

    We do enough to keep momentum, not enough to drown in Jira tickets.

    4. Let the Team Shape the Tech

    This one took me a while to get comfortable with.

    When we started scaling, I wanted to keep the architecture tightly controlled. But as the team grew, that control started to strangle progress.

    Now I give teams ownership of their domains—with a few guardrails:

    • Code conventions enforced via CI
    • Shared utilities and logging
    • Designated leads for review & mentoring

    This keeps the architecture coherent without making me the bottleneck.

    5. Use Metrics—But Human Ones Too

    Yes, we track deploys, error rates, PR velocity, and test coverage.

    But we also track:

    • Time-to-onboard for new devs
    • How often people feel blocked
    • Developer satisfaction (we literally ask)

    Scaling is as much about team health as technical output.

    6. Prioritize Tech Debt Like You Prioritize Features

    Scaling reveals what’s fragile. You can either keep duct-taping… or plan refactors like real deliverables.

    We treat tech debt as first-class work:

    • Logged with clear impact
    • Prioritized alongside features
    • Tracked to completion

    The result? A codebase that doesn’t collapse the moment you add two more developers.

    7. Be Explicit About What’s Not Getting Done

    This is huge.

    When you’re scaling, you will make tradeoffs. The mistake is pretending you’re not. Be loud about what’s been pushed, paused, or shelved. This builds trust with both devs and stakeholders.

    It’s better to say “We’re not doing that yet” than to silently let things rot on the backlog.

    8. Mentor, Don’t Manage

    Your developers aren’t there to be task rabbits. They’re there to grow, contribute, and lead.

    The more your team can make good decisions without you, the more scalable your project becomes.

    Make room for that.

    Final Thought

    Scaling a remote PHP project is about more than frameworks and deadlines. It’s about people, priorities, and process that adapts.

    There’s no single magic tactic—but if you build the habits, you build the scale.

    And honestly? That’s the part I’ve come to enjoy the most.

  • How to Lead a Remote PHP Team Without Burning Out Your Developers

    How to Lead a Remote PHP Team Without Burning Out Your Developers

    When I first started managing a remote PHP team, I made all the rookie mistakes: too many meetings, too few boundaries, and way too much Slack.

    Burnout wasn’t immediate—but it was inevitable.

    I’ve since changed the way I lead. Here’s what I’ve learned about keeping remote PHP developers productive without running them into the ground.

    1. Start With Trust, Not Surveillance

    Remote work isn’t about fancy time trackers or monitoring keystrokes. If you’ve hired professionals, treat them like professionals.

    Set expectations around outcomes, not hours. Give clear goals and let the team figure out how to get there.

    Micromanagement doesn’t scale—especially remotely.

    2. Protect Focus Like It’s Sacred

    Developers need uninterrupted time to build. It’s not a luxury—it’s a requirement.

    I’ve learned to:

    • Reduce daily meetings to the absolute minimum
    • Replace stand-ups with async check-ins
    • Schedule meetings during shared overlap windows (not someone’s 10 p.m.)

    Slack doesn’t have to be on all the time. It’s okay to be “away.”

    3. Create Space for Deep Work

    I encourage “focus blocks”—dedicated time slots for writing and problem-solving. I even block them on my calendar and encourage my team to do the same.

    If something’s urgent, we handle it. If it can wait, it should.

    That quiet space is where the real engineering happens.

    4. Build Feedback Into the Culture

    Just because we’re remote doesn’t mean feedback should be rare.

    We use:

    • Pull request comments for micro-feedback
    • Regular 1:1s for deeper coaching
    • Retrospectives to talk about what’s working (and what’s not)

    This helps me catch burnout early. When someone starts missing deadlines or seems “off,” I don’t guess—I ask.

    5. Respect Time Zones—and Personal Time

    One of my developers is in Egypt, another in the Philippines. If I try to make everyone align, someone suffers.

    So I don’t.

    Instead, I:

    • Schedule critical meetings in shared overlap hours
    • Record calls when needed
    • Push for async documentation wherever possible

    Also: no weekend pings. No late-night emergencies unless something’s actually on fire. Work can wait. Health can’t.

    6. Celebrate the Wins—Even Small Ones

    Remote work can feel thankless if you’re not careful. That “quick good job” someone might say in the hallway? It doesn’t exist.

    So I make it a point to:

    • Highlight good commits in team chat
    • Shout out thoughtful code reviews
    • Thank people often, publicly and privately

    It builds morale—and reminds everyone they’re seen.

    7. Let Developers Influence the Process

    Burnout often comes from feeling powerless. To fight that, I involve devs in how we build—not just what we build.

    We’ve had devs help reshape our:

    • Sprint planning cadence
    • Deployment process
    • Tooling decisions

    Autonomy = investment. When they help shape the system, they feel more ownership (and less resentment).

    8. Talk About Burnout Openly

    It’s okay to say, “I’m tired.” I try to normalize that.

    We talk openly about workload, energy, and mental health in our 1:1s. Sometimes that means encouraging someone to take a break—or stepping in to reprioritize the backlog.

    Pretending burnout isn’t real doesn’t make it go away.

    Final Thought

    Leading a remote PHP team well isn’t about squeezing more output from developers. It’s about building an environment where good code—and healthy people—can thrive.

    The best teams I’ve led didn’t just ship great features. They stuck around, supported each other, and grew together.

    That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you lead with intention.

  • The Leadership Skill No One Talks About: Patience

    The Leadership Skill No One Talks About: Patience

    We love to talk about decisiveness. About boldness, charisma, vision. We glamorize “move fast and break things” leadership like it’s the only kind that works.

    But there’s one leadership skill that rarely gets any spotlight—patience.

    It’s not sexy. It doesn’t make great TED Talk soundbites. But in my experience, patience is one of the most underrated, overused, and completely necessary tools in a leader’s arsenal.

    Let’s unpack that.

    1. Patience is Not Inaction

    First, let’s kill the myth that patience means doing nothing.

    Patience is deciding to do nothing right now—because the timing isn’t right, the information is incomplete, or the person in front of you needs room to grow. It’s restraint with intention.

    Sometimes that’s the hardest kind of action.

    2. People Don’t Grow on Command

    You can give someone the clearest task and the best tools—and they’ll still fumble.

    The instinct? Step in. Fix it. Move on.

    But if you do that every time, you’re not leading. You’re just babysitting.

    Patience is what turns mistakes into lessons. It’s giving space for growth, not just efficiency. Leadership isn’t about showing how capable you are—it’s about building capability in others.

    3. Waiting Can Be a Power Move

    There are times when I’ve held off on making a decision—sometimes for days, weeks, or longer—because I sensed the team wasn’t ready yet. Or because the situation still had room to shift.

    And it usually did.

    Patience lets you observe the undercurrents. The politics, the stress signals, the emerging patterns. Sometimes by simply waiting, you see truths that would’ve stayed hidden if you acted too fast.

    4. Patience Builds Trust

    Nobody likes a knee-jerk boss.

    If your team knows you won’t overreact at the first sign of trouble, they’ll bring issues to you earlier. If they see you take time to understand before acting, they’ll feel heard—and that earns you loyalty.

    In a world obsessed with urgency, patience is a signal: “I’m steady. I’m not going to flinch. I’ve got your back.”

    That kind of leadership is rare—and incredibly powerful.

    5. It’s Hard, and That’s Why It Matters

    Patience doesn’t come naturally to most of us. It definitely didn’t for me. I had to unlearn the instinct to fix, jump in, rush. I had to sit with discomfort, uncertainty, silence.

    But every time I managed to hold space instead of fill it, I noticed something: things unfolded better. Smarter decisions. More capable teams. Less emotional whiplash.

    So no, it’s not glamorous. But it works.

    Final Thoughts

    If you’re leading a team, you’re not just making decisions. You’re shaping growth, culture, and character—starting with your own.

    And that takes patience.

    Not the passive kind. The active, gritty, intentional kind. The kind that says, “I trust you. I’m here. I’m not in a rush to prove anything.”

    The kind that makes space for real leadership.

  • What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Dev Manager

    What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Dev Manager

    When I first stepped into a dev manager role, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what was coming. I’d been around long enough, led a few projects, mentored juniors, dealt with deadlines. Seemed like a natural next step.

    Spoiler: I was wrong.

    Becoming a dev manager isn’t a promotion—it’s a whole new job. And while I eventually found my footing, there’s a bunch of stuff I really wish someone had told me upfront.

    Here’s what I’ve learned the hard way:

    1. You’re Not Just Managing Code Anymore

    This sounds obvious, but I didn’t fully get it until I was deep in.

    As a developer, success was about shipping features and solving hard problems. As a manager, success became helping others ship features and solve hard problems—without writing the code myself.

    Letting go of “doing the work” was way harder than I expected. But if you’re still trying to be the best coder and manage people, you’ll fail at both.

    2. The Work Is Now Invisible

    You fix a toxic process. You help two devs resolve a conflict. You convince leadership not to scope creep the sprint.

    Nobody sees it.

    There’s no commit history for emotional labor, no ticket for “protected the team from chaos.” But that work? It’s everything.

    Managing is mostly invisible—but it’s what makes visible success possible.

    3. You Will Miss Coding (and That’s Okay)

    At first, I felt like I’d lost something. That satisfying “flow state” of getting deep into a problem? Gone. Replaced by meetings, 1:1s, and planning sessions.

    Full disclosure: I still code but not as much as I used to. And yeah, I missed it.

    Eventually I realized: my flow state just looks different now. It’s when I help a dev level up. Or smooth out a cross-team dependency. Or watch a new process click.

    It’s a different kind of win—and it still matters.

    4. People Are Not Pull Requests

    Devs don’t come with diffs and tests. Their behavior can be inconsistent, unpredictable, emotional—even irrational.

    But that’s the job now: figuring out what motivates, supports, and challenges each person in a way that keeps them growing.

    No linter will help you with that.

    5. You’re in the Middle (and It Gets Messy)

    You’re not just leading your team. You’re translating between leadership and the ground floor. You’re advocating for your people and representing the company.

    It’s a balancing act. And yeah, sometimes it sucks. You won’t always agree with the direction. You’ll have to deliver bad news. You’ll feel stuck.

    But how you carry yourself through that ambiguity? That’s what defines you as a manager.

    6. Your Team’s Success is the New Scoreboard

    The first time one of my team members got promoted—and I had zero lines of code to do with it—I finally got it.

    Management isn’t about you leveling up anymore. It’s about building a system where others can.

    And when you get that right, it’s incredibly fulfilling.

    Final Thoughts

    If you’re stepping into dev management, get ready to feel unqualified, out of your depth, and occasionally nostalgic for the simplicity of code.

    But also—get ready to grow in ways you didn’t expect.

    You’ll learn to communicate better. Handle uncertainty. Build trust. Navigate chaos. And, eventually, build a team that thrives with or without you.

    That’s the real job.

    And it’s worth it.

  • Why Developer Experience Matters in Plugin UX

    Why Developer Experience Matters in Plugin UX

    When we talk about plugin UX, we usually think about the end user. Is the UI intuitive? Does the feature solve the user’s problem? Is the performance snappy? All valid questions—but often, we forget one critical piece: the developer’s experience building and maintaining that plugin.

    Developer Experience (DX) isn’t just an internal concern—it has a direct impact on the quality and longevity of the plugin itself. And, if you’re working on something meant to be extended, forked, or reused, it’s part of your user experience too.

    Let’s talk about why.

    1. DX Affects Product Velocity

    If your plugin’s internal architecture is a mess—spaghetti code, no tests, unclear function names—it slows everything down. New features take longer, bugs are harder to fix, and onboarding new devs feels like hazing.

    A good DX means:

    • Clear, modular code
    • Logical file structure
    • Sensible abstractions
    • Realistic documentation

    When your devs enjoy working with the codebase, they build faster. They ship better.

    2. Poor DX Leaks Into UX

    Ever noticed how plugins with great UX often feel “tight”? Transitions make sense. Settings are where you expect them. Little things feel polished.

    That’s rarely an accident.

    It’s usually a result of developers not fighting the code. When devs don’t waste brainpower decoding an outdated logic branch or jumping between unrelated files, they have more energy to focus on experience—the real UX.

    3. A Plugin is a Platform (Sometimes)

    If you’re building something extensible—whether it’s hooks, filters, or a custom API—then your developers are your users.

    You owe them:

    • Stable APIs
    • Clear documentation
    • Thoughtful design patterns
    • Predictable upgrade paths

    If you treat third-party devs as second-class citizens, they’ll treat your plugin the same. Or worse—they’ll fork it and never look back.

    4. DX is a Retention Strategy

    In open source, contributors often come and go. But good DX can keep people around.

    I’ve seen projects thrive because the dev experience was delightful. Clean code, welcoming docs, a sense that someone cared.

    It’s not about being perfect—it’s about being thoughtful.

    I always ask myself: “If I came back to this code in six months, would I thank Past Me or curse him out?”

    5. Better DX = Fewer Bugs = Happier Users

    This one’s simple math.

    Fewer WTFs per file = Fewer mistakes
    Fewer mistakes = Fewer bugs
    Fewer bugs = Happier users

    Improving developer experience is one of the most high-leverage things you can do for plugin UX. But it’s often invisible—until it’s missing.

    Final Thoughts

    If you care about your plugin’s users, you have to care about the experience of the people building it.

    DX isn’t a side quest. It’s part of the core loop. And when you get it right, everyone wins.

    Even (especially) Future You.

  • Making Tough Calls: A Leader’s Daily Reality

    Making Tough Calls: A Leader’s Daily Reality

    When I first became a team lead, I thought “tough decisions” were rare—something you made in a crisis. Big stuff, like letting someone go or killing a project. What I didn’t realize is that making hard calls is a daily part of leadership—and usually, no one claps when you do it.

    No roadmap tells you when to delay a launch to avoid burnout, or when to back a teammate whose opinion clashes with the stakeholders. And the toughest ones? They’re the decisions where both choices suck, just in different ways.

    Here’s what I’ve learned navigating those calls:

    1. Clarity Beats Consensus

    As a dev, I used to aim for alignment. But as a leader, I’ve had to let go of consensus as the goal. Sometimes, not everyone will agree. And that’s okay.

    What your team really needs is clarity—a clear direction and the rationale behind it.

    I’ve found that saying, “This is a tough one, but here’s why I’m choosing this path,” builds more trust than pretending everyone is on the same page when they’re not.

    2. Short-Term Pain vs Long-Term Gain

    Most hard decisions pit short-term discomfort against long-term outcomes. Think: choosing to push back on a client request and risk friction now… versus setting a sustainable precedent for your team.

    I try to pause and ask: “Which version of this will I be glad I picked three months from now?”

    It doesn’t make the decision easier, but it usually makes it clearer.

    3. Emotional Toll Is Real

    No one talks enough about the emotional weight of leadership. You’ll second-guess yourself. You’ll worry about how others perceive your choices. You’ll carry things your team never sees.

    That’s part of the job—but it doesn’t mean you go it alone. I’ve leaned on mentors, peers, and even a journal to process what I can’t always say out loud.

    Make space for reflection. It’s not a luxury. It’s a survival tool.

    4. It’s Still Your Job to Decide

    You can gather input, empathize, weigh tradeoffs—but at the end of the day, someone has to make the call.

    And that someone is you.

    When I avoid tough decisions, my team feels it. Progress stalls. People get confused. Doubts creep in. Even silence becomes a kind of signal—one that says, “I don’t know what we’re doing.”

    Leading means deciding, even when the answer sucks.

    5. The Hardest Calls Are About People

    Deadlines and features are one thing. But it’s the people calls—the ones where you balance empathy with performance—that really test your values.

    Letting go of someone who isn’t thriving on the team. Calling out behavior that doesn’t align with your culture. Holding space for someone who’s struggling personally while still managing delivery.

    These decisions define your leadership, not just your team’s outcomes.

    No One Applauds the Hard Decisions—Until Much Later

    Most of the tough calls I’ve made weren’t popular in the moment. Some were questioned. Some were misunderstood. But months later? That’s when people say, “I’m glad you did that.” Sometimes they never say it out loud—but you feel it in the team’s stability, growth, or regained trust.

    So if you’re in a season of hard decisions, take heart.

    Leadership isn’t about always knowing the right answer. It’s about carrying the weight of uncertainty, choosing with intention, and standing by your team as you navigate it together.

  • Aligning Roadmaps With Team Capacity

    Aligning Roadmaps With Team Capacity

    Early in my career, roadmaps felt like a wishlist. Marketing wanted X, sales wanted Y, and we—engineering—were somehow supposed to make it all happen. And when we couldn’t, we were labeled blockers.

    It took years (and more than a few failed quarters) to realize the issue wasn’t execution. It was misalignment. We were promising more than our team could realistically deliver.

    Here’s what I’ve learned about making sure roadmaps aren’t just ambitious—they’re achievable.

    1. Start With Capacity, Not Deadlines

    Before locking in a roadmap, I now ask: “What can this team realistically handle over the next cycle?”

    Not what the business hopes for. Not what looks good on a slide.

    That means looking at:

    • Who’s available (and for how long)
    • Time already committed to support, bugs, or tech debt
    • The velocity you’ve actually observed, not idealized

    Setting the roadmap after capacity is understood isn’t pessimism—it’s adulting.

    2. Separate Strategy From Execution

    Leadership often confuses goals with commitments. Strategy says “we want to grow revenue by 30%.” Execution says “we need three new features to get there.”

    I’ve started drawing a bright line between the two. Strategy sets direction. Execution defines what the team can actually ship.

    If the roadmap doesn’t fit the team’s reality, something has to give—either the timeline, the features, or the resources.

    3. Build in Slack Time

    Every roadmap should include breathing room—for surprises, for iteration, for life.

    If your plan assumes everyone works at 100% capacity, 100% of the time, you’ve already failed. Someone will get sick. A requirement will change. Production will break.

    I typically plan for 70–80% of theoretical capacity. The rest goes to the stuff we can’t predict but always happens.

    4. Be Transparent With Stakeholders

    I’ve stopped sugarcoating what’s feasible. When a stakeholder asks, “Can we squeeze in one more thing?” I walk them through the cost:

    • What gets pushed out
    • What breaks our velocity
    • What causes burnouts

    Instead of just saying “no,” I show why it doesn’t fit—and offer choices. Sometimes, they prioritize differently. Other times, we push the timeline. Either way, they’re part of the decision, not just recipients of it.

    5. Review and Re-align Often

    Roadmaps aren’t static. Things shift—people leave, dependencies slip, goals evolve.

    I do biweekly check-ins to track:

    • Are we on track?
    • What’s blocked?
    • Has capacity changed?

    At work in Caseproof, we use EOS as our company’s “operating system” to help us regularly review and re-align our goals.

    These aren’t full replans—just touchpoints. They let us course-correct before we end up way off base.

    Roadmaps Aren’t Promises—They’re Plans

    If you treat the roadmap like a contract, every delay feels like a failure. But if you treat it like a plan, it becomes something your team and stakeholders can adjust together.

    Alignment doesn’t mean you can do everything. It means everyone knows what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and what it will cost.

    When you get that right, your roadmap becomes more than a wishlist. It becomes a tool for trust.

  • How to Onboard a New Developer to Your Plugin Codebase

    How to Onboard a New Developer to Your Plugin Codebase

    Bringing a new developer into your plugin project can go one of two ways: smooth and productive—or completely chaotic.

    I’ve seen both.

    Whether you’re working on a public WordPress plugin or a custom solution for a client, onboarding a new dev isn’t just about giving them access to the repo and saying “good luck.” It’s about giving them clarity, confidence, and context.

    Here’s how I do it now—and what I wish I had done sooner.

    1. Set the Stage: Explain the Plugin’s Purpose

    Before diving into any code, I always walk through why the plugin exists. What problem does it solve? Who are the users? What’s the long-term goal?

    Too often, devs are thrown into a project and only understand the what, not the why. That leads to narrow thinking and missed opportunities for improvement.

    Even a short video or a quick explainer document helps give a mental model of the plugin’s architecture and intent.

    2. Provide a Dev-Ready Environment

    Don’t make new devs spend hours figuring out how to spin up the environment.

    If you’re using Docker, share the commands and prebuilt configs. If you’re on a local dev tool like Local or Lando, make sure setup steps are documented. Add a README.md with installation steps that actually work.

    The faster a new dev gets to running code, the sooner they start contributing.

    3. Map Out the Architecture

    Your plugin probably has its own structure—maybe includes/, assets/, templates/, etc.

    I usually include a brief “file structure” doc with one-liners explaining what lives where. Example:

    /includes/classes/ → main plugin logic  
/includes/hooks/ → custom hooks and filters  
/templates/ → frontend output

    It’s basic, but it orients people quickly.

    Bonus points if you document how custom post types, taxonomies, or meta fields are registered and used.

    4. Document Common Workflows

    Are there scripts for releasing new versions? Conventions for submitting PRs? Gotchas when building new features?

    If you’ve been working solo, you’ve probably internalized all this. But to a new dev, it’s tribal (yes tribal, not trivial) knowledge.

    I keep a CONTRIBUTING.md file with:

    • Branching strategy
    • PR review process
    • Linting rules
    • Deployment steps

    Even if you’re not running a large team, this makes life easier for you and your new dev.

    5. Pair on One Task

    After the walkthrough and docs, I always sit down (virtually or in person, I mostly do it virtually using Google Meet, Zoom or a similar service) and pair on a small task. Nothing huge—maybe a bug fix or a tiny feature tweak.

    It’s not about the code. It’s about watching how they approach things, answering questions in real-time, and catching any disconnects before they grow.

    That one session can shortcut days of confusion.

    6. Encourage Questions (and Capture the Good Ones)

    New developers ask great questions—ones you’ve stopped thinking about long ago. Instead of brushing them off, I treat them like gold.

    If they ask something insightful, I update the docs. That way, every new hire makes the process better for the next.

    7. Give Them Ownership Early

    Once the new dev is up to speed, I assign something meaningful. Not just small bugs, but a feature or enhancement where they can leave their mark.

    That sense of ownership builds momentum. And nothing motivates like being trusted.

    Final Thought: Onboarding Is an Ongoing Investment

    Yes, it takes time. But good onboarding pays dividends. Developers become confident contributors instead of code tourists. They build faster, break less, and stay longer.

    Treat onboarding like part of your dev workflow—not a one-time checklist. Your future self (and your team) will thank you.

  • The Hidden Costs of Not Documenting Your Plugin Code

    The Hidden Costs of Not Documenting Your Plugin Code

    We’ve all done it. You’re deep in the flow, building out a plugin feature, squashing bugs, hitting milestones—and you think, “I’ll document this later.”

    Then later becomes never.

    I used to think documentation was a “nice-to-have.” Something you do when the real work is done. But over the years—especially maintaining my own WordPress plugins and client custom solutions—I’ve seen how the lack of documentation creates invisible (but very real) costs.

    Cost #1: Slower Development (Yes, Even for You)

    The biggest lie we tell ourselves is that we’ll remember how something works “because we wrote it.” Six months later, you’re staring at your own code like it’s a riddle written by someone else. Without inline comments or clear README notes, every revisit becomes archaeology.

    Worse, even current development slows down when you forget why a helper function behaves a certain way, or what parameters that hook expects.

    Documentation isn’t for “someone else.” It’s for future you.

    Cost #2: Onboarding Hell

    Whether you’re growing a team or just collaborating with another dev for a sprint, a lack of documentation turns simple onboarding into a game of 20 Questions. What does this function do? Is this filter still used? Why is this action hook conditional?

    Every minute your teammate spends asking basic questions (or worse—debugging things they don’t understand) is a minute lost to productivity. Multiply that over weeks or months and the time cost is huge.

    I’ve had clients switch agencies purely because “the last dev left and no one knows how their plugin works.” That’s not a tech debt issue—that’s a business loss.

    Cost #3: Increased Bugs and Regressions

    When you don’t document intent, you leave interpretation up to the next developer’s guesswork. And guesses lead to bugs.

    I once refactored an old plugin and removed what I thought was redundant logic. Turns out it was a workaround for a very specific WishList Member bug that I myself fixed from 5 years ago. That workaround wasn’t documented anywhere—only realized the issue after customers started reporting it in support.

    One comment or note would’ve saved hours of debugging.

    Cost #4: Lower Plugin Adoption and Community Contribution

    This one’s especially true for public plugins. If people can’t figure out how to use your plugin or contribute to it because there’s no clear documentation, they’ll move on to one that is documented—even if it’s less powerful.

    I’ve seen talented devs build incredible tools, only to wonder why no one uses them. The code may be clean, but if the onboarding experience is confusing, your plugin will sit idle.

    Documentation isn’t marketing, but it is user experience.

    Cost #5: Burnout

    This one’s more subtle.

    When you’re the only person who understands the plugin codebase, everything lands on your plate. Every question, every issue, every tweak. You can’t delegate, you can’t scale, and eventually… you get tired.

    I’ve burned out maintaining side projects because no one else could help, and the idea of “explaining everything” felt more exhausting than just doing the work myself. That’s a trap.

    Good documentation is how you offload that burden. It’s how you give yourself permission to rest and step away when needed.

    So Why Don’t We Document?

    Honestly? It’s not sexy. You don’t get dopamine hits from writing function descriptions. There’s no client applause for a well-written README.

    But over time, I’ve found a quiet pride in it. When a junior dev says, “I figured it out from your comments,” or when I revisit old code and don’t feel lost—it feels damn good.

    How I Approach Documentation Now

    Nothing fancy. Just consistent:

    • Inline comments for logic that’s not immediately obvious
    • DocBlocks for all public functions and hooks
    • README.md files that explain the plugin’s purpose, how to install, how to use, and how to contribute

    When I’m pressed for time, I at least leave TODO comments or open a Notion page to circle back.

    The key is to treat documentation like part of the code—not an afterthought. Just like you wouldn’t commit broken syntax, don’t leave logic undocumented.

    Final Thought

    Code is temporary. Even plugins you’ve maintained for years will eventually evolve, be handed off, or sunset. But documentation is what gives that code clarity, life, and continuity.

    If you’re not documenting your plugin code, you’re silently agreeing to future confusion, wasted time, and limited collaboration.

    It’s not about perfection. It’s about leaving breadcrumbs—so someone else (or future you) doesn’t get lost.

    Write the damn docs.