In essence the approach Shore lays out equates to a good, rigorous application of modern extreme programming practices (nonetheless, the post is well worth a good hard read and bookmarking).

But to prevent this I cut it with my knife upon a large post, in capital letters, and making it into a great cross I set it up on the shore where I first landed, viz.

I cast up the notches on my post, and found I had been on shore three hundred and sixty five days.