this is my favourite part: >let us consider that being ‘blocked from making changes’ can actually be a very good and necessary thing. It’s something that the s

this is my favourite part: >let us consider that being ‘blocked from making changes’ can actually be a very good and necessary thing. It’s something that the senior engineers of yesteryear once had the power to do. They sometimes did it out of spite, yes, but more often to keep code over which they had stewardship from being compromised by short-term thinking. Blockers were put up to ensure that software could be developed at a sustainable pace with the minimum of human suffering involved, and to be used as a check and balance against a management team not in a position to understand or learn about engineering trade-offs at stake. Every time I've been blocked from immediately merging in my changes I've learned how to be a better developer. Yes there's a few times where it's been out of spite but the majority of the time it's led to conversations that have significantly improved my understanding of the code base and how to approach it and the culture of development at the company. Have a spine and be willing to say no to plain old bad code.