71–80 of 177 posts
Work fast, don't think things through, make mistakes, pay for your haste by spending more time fixing your mistakes than you would have had you thought things through.
Efficiency is also more important than it seems. You can have lots of low quality, half-baked output. How much forethought do we put into what we will work on to begin with? Some projects and ideas are not worth the effort. Or an alternative solution to a problem is preferable over one you’ve been hammering away at for days, and would be easier to implement. And in the realm of programming, it’s often easy to take sh…
Not every product is maintained for years. In many cases it's good to be able to choose between a quick solution and a good solution, as long as these are concious decisions and some record of accrued technical debt is kept.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rarely if ever in the beginning of the project it's 100% sure or guaranteed how long the project will be maintained. There might be some estimates, but in the long run upper management might change their minds at any time and then you are fucked if you didn't build robust architecture from the start. At least according to my experience and everyone I know in the industry.
If you work on legacy code you can be sure that your code will be used for years if not decades.
You don't see good looking legacy, because it didn't survive.
For me, after years producing software, I've set myself up to be able to say no. I disregard urgency when it exists for urgency's sake, coming out of business despair or a gut feeling. I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. Working…
>I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. I feel sorry for you. As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business. My health is more important than thei…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been wondering if 20 minutes of coding in 'urgent mode' then a 5 minute break, repeated, with a lunch break, would be more productive than 'average mode' all day, and without the burnout.
Try it and let us know - it's different for many people. I can work weeks at 14 hours a day without more than brief bathroom/food breaks if I'm passionate and not distracted.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. I feel sorry for you. As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business. My health is more important than thei…
Yeah, that sentence leapt out at me too. Bizarre life priorities, and undermines otherwise sensible remarks.
For me, after years producing software, I've set myself up to be able to say no. I disregard urgency when it exists for urgency's sake, coming out of business despair or a gut feeling. I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. Working…
>I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. I feel sorry for you. As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business. My health is more important than thei…
That's why the thing about "premature optimisation is the root of all evil" is mistaken and wrong in these modern times and yet many people still quote it and take it to heart and as a result don't prioritise speed when building software. "premature optimisation is the root of all evil" is a saying that came from 1974 when computers were slower, languages were less effective and development processes immature. Today…
At some undefined point you may realize that you are trying to solve an undecideable problem. You can spend an infinite amount of time, and not get an answer.
You cannot build an algorithm to determine the amount of time that an arbitrary problem can be solved in, or if it's solvable in the first place. You must make a choice based on imperfect knowledge.
For me, after years producing software, I've set myself up to be able to say no. I disregard urgency when it exists for urgency's sake, coming out of business despair or a gut feeling. I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. Working…
>I will gladly work for 2 - 3 months on hyper mode, giving away my mental and physical health for a feature that will actually provide business value and for which the business can make a good case for why it's needed yesterday. I feel sorry for you. As some who's been around the block a few times, I will never, EVER, give away my mental or physical health for someone's business. My health is more important than thei…
I would say it differently though - do I have +-guaranteed massive return that over-compensates my extra effort and loss? If I get something meaningful, ie paid next 5 amazing vacations, can retire 1 year earlier, pay off massive part of mortgage or something on similar level, then I can at least consider it.