Ask HN Poll: Developers, how many of you work in a one-developer shop?

I work in a one developer shop. Short story, nothing nice was setup when I showed up. Here are my tips and what I have done.<p>1. Force yourself to follow a set of rules.<p>2. Force yourself to follow a set of rules.<p>3. Setup a test server.<p><pre><code> - When I took over all the projects were updated on the the production server. - The test server should be a clone of the production and regularly updated. </code></pre> 4. Setup another server (hardware or VM) for your "department"/yourself. This is your "production" server for yourself/"department".<p>5. Setup some kind of ticket tracking system. Be sure it supports multiple projects, time tracking, scm tracking, and some kind of wiki/documentation.<p><pre><code> - Start your wiki listing how you are cloning your production system. - Create projects for the projects currently in production - Document those projects </code></pre> 6. Setup some kind of SCM.<p><pre><code> - Pick one. Which one? Mercurial? git? subversion? [ commercial ones not listed, because more than likely you have a zero dollar budget ] It honestly doesn't matter. Just pick one and stick with it no matter what people say. When asked why you picked one over the other. Just say "I needed it." - Learn SCM strategies. - Write policy for your SCM strategy. - Follow your own policy </code></pre> 7. Educate the users on how to submit bug reports.<p><pre><code> - Inform then that emailing you does not get the problem fixed - Bug reports let them track your progress and allows for open two-way communication. - It also gives your superiors a way of monitoring and measuring your success in the workplace. [ if they don't "see" your worth then you are worthless ] </code></pre> Last, remember that you are a policy maker as the sole developer. Implement policy that helps you set standards and expectations not only for yourself but for your users.<p>good luck<p><i>edited for formatting</i>

How awesome would it be if there were exactly one one-developer shop. Then, we would all be living in a one-one-developer-shop universe.