Stop caring about your code ↦
Patrick DeVivo:
Caring less about code doesn’t mean caring less about its outcome. In fact, putting the outcome before the implementation can really unlock you to think about the problems that “matter.” The value your software delivers, not the software itself.
Discussion
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Jerod Santo
Omaha, Nebraska
Jerod co-hosts The Changelog, crashes JS Party, and takes out the trash (his old code) once in awhile.
2020-06-24T14:41:38Z ago
Related to this: try not to identify too closely with your code. It isn’t you.
It was written under long-forgotten constraints (time, budget, knowledge, calories, etc) by a long-forgotten version of yourself.
If you can detach your identity from your code, a lot of things get easier: code review, refactoring, deleting, etc.
Patrick DeVivo
2020-07-04T15:00:33Z ago
Agreed! The only tangible relic of old code is usually the code itself - not those long-forgotten constraints you describe, which are likely just as important. Code doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and if caring less about the code itself lets you care more about the constraints and context around it, I think that’s useful!