Comment by psyc

I believe my #1 defense against mistakes is the faint unease in the back of my mind that arises when I don't completely understand the problem. If I become aware of this nagging doubt, and follow it, it leads to the part I don't completely understand, where mistakes are likely. You can spend quite a long time seemingly immersed in a problem space without really understanding all of it. I think I may unconsciously flinch away from specific areas I understand least, because it's more comfortable to re-analyze the parts I have a good grasp on. I find once I understand a problem well enough that I have any business checking in code, and there's none of that nagging unease, then it's usually mostly correct.