Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
cerebralab.com
Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
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Re: Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
#2> They might realize Debra has been sitting in that corner, staring at uptime graphs of the internal server farm for 10 years, despite the fact that the company moved to AWS five years ago.
Ouch. The tone of the article is a little harsh, and I’m not sure if snippets like the above are intentionally hyperbolic, but there is a fair amount of truth in it.
Most of my career has involved convincing peers to do less, and solve simpler problems with simpler solutions.
Re: Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
#3The author hits the nail on the head with his claim that imaginary problems are more fun than real ones.
As developers and smart folks in general, we like complicated problems that are big and far away. How many times have I heard in a meeting, "Yeah, but when we have 1M users..."
It's great fun to think your product will get to 1M users. It's also very unlikely. It's not nearly as fun to finish and ship and market and monetize the half-broken thing the team is working on now. Yet that's the only way out and the only way anyone gets to 1M users to begin with.
Re: Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
#4The hard part here is telling the difference between a pure phantasm of an imaginary problem and innovation. Things that have never been done (or never really been done well) might look as far off as hypotheticals.
I do think that “imaginary problem” is the answer most of the time though. Most things that look like unnecessary complexity or hobby horses really are.
Re: Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
#5Well said. It's a relative of the premature optimization problem. I often think of them as unearned problems.
Re: Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
#6Premature optimization is the root of all evil.
Simple > Complex.
It's amazing how many otherwise brilliant people dive headlong into project without considering these basic principals or even intentionally brush them aside.
Re: Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
#7Well said. It's a relative of the premature optimization problem. I often think of them as unearned problems.
Alternately, it's more fun to write sci-fi than to deal with today's reality.
And the gap is widening...
Re: Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
#8Imaginary problems aka gold plating and yagni.
Re: Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
#9this is definitely one of the advice i give to senior dev i work with: if you're proud of how smart your solution is, there's a high chance you overengineered and made a mess of a simple problem.
i now take great pride when my code looks boringly obvious.
Re: Imaginary problems are the root of bad software
#10this is definitely one of the advice i give to senior dev i work with: if you're proud of how smart your solution is, there's a high chance you overengineered and made a mess of a simple problem. i now take great pride when my code looks boringly obvious.
Related: my favorite pull requests are the ones that remove more lines of code than they add. People think you need to hoard old code that’s not used anymore like it’s made of gold. It’s not. You aren’t gonna need it, and if you do, you can find it in the git history.