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> But fix the 5 sub-problems necessary to fix this the Right Way today (no matter how crazy), and at the end of the day, you will have the Right Fix in place. P
by iudqnolq 7y ago
> But fix the 5 sub-problems necessary to fix this the Right Way today (no matter how crazy), and at the end of the day, you will have the Right Fix in place. Plus, you'll be one step closer to solving those 25 other problems that cross through this path.
Unless tomorrow you learn you need to build something completely different. This is an age old debate, and doing it technically "Right" isn't the be-all-end-all. "Move fast and break things" is dumb, and so is it's inverse.
Now, that doesn't mean the truth is the happy medium. It's somewhere in between, weighed to one side. I don't know which. But this is a tension, and I don't think we can afford to ignore either side.
- bencollier49 7y agoWhich side it happens to be is on entirely context-driven. If the object of "yak shaving" happens to be a mathematical proof, then the yak must be shaved. But if you have to get a system working within five minutes to stop your company losing ten million pounds, then the yak can remain unmolested.
- SAI_Peregrinus 7y agoSometimes there's an easy way around. With the article's example, you buy an EzPass (or call the tolls-by-mail number & pay the extra fee for that vs EzPass). Then you don't need to borrow your neighbour's EzPass, or return the pillow, or restuff the pillow, or shave the yak. Likewise for many real systems, often one of the intermediate steps has a better alternative.