Before you start to code write your ideas on a piece of paper ... Everytime I beginn a project I start with coding, this advice is to difficult for me 😂

I draw it in Paint (best program for drawing your thoughts)

Although this always turns out to be one of the best strategies as you go along coding, it feels like the most tedious and is always skipped by me as well lol

If something is highly abstract I type it out in English sentences in an outline in a text editor, and fill in the code as I go.

Just to add on, don't get overzealous and try to write down everything obsessively. Programming is from one perspective, nothing more than creating abstractions of different types.

The idea is to write down any abstraction that you can't keep in your head.

If you're a beginner, and can't abstract a for loop right in your head, write it down. If you're experienced and you can't seem to hold stuff like observer patterns in your head, write those down. You don't have to write down the stuff you can do in your head anyway.

Sadly, not a single uni class, teaches this right. They have students writing down all sorts of useless shit till they get bored.

I write it either in notepad or Visio and then send a nice email to everyone saying "ok here's the plan, raise your objections now, I ain't changing it later"