alt Hacker NewsThe thing is shipping sloppy code is orders of magnitudes easier, because that's the default result. Any sufficiently determined hack-job can do it. On the other hand, steering a team of 5-10 engineers to deliver quality on (or before!) a deadline requires excessive amounts of coordination and skill. Now, is this trade-off "worth" the effort? I guess that's a matter of opinion, though I would argue in the long term quality wins out by a large margin.
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franktankbank • today at 1:11 AM
slow is smooth, smooth is fast
Sometimes teams will do the sloppy thing because it's the quickest path to resolution of an issue deemed to be critical, which can make sense in the moment, but if you do this too many times without spending the effort to improve the solution after the immediate pressure is gone, issues like this will continue to get more common. I like to use an analogy of trying to put out a fire on the other side of a building by filling a cup in the sink and then running across to toss the water onto the fire; in the short term, it might be the best fix, but if you keep finding yourself having to do this, you're probably better off installing a fire hose even if it requires a lot more effort up front.