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Boo to this take. Not all tools are the same and “Good tools obviate bad processes.” is a mantra I saw once in a talk that has stuck with me for 15 years. You’r
by immy 6y ago
Boo to this take. Not all tools are the same and “Good tools obviate bad processes.” is a mantra I saw once in a talk that has stuck with me for 15 years. You’re not wrong that it’s a people problem, but tools shape human behavior. That’s Design.
The quote is attributed to Michael B. Johnson, aka wave, Software Director at Pixar.
- kevmo314 6y agoAPI design is a great example of this. Good API design incentivizes the right choices and clean integration. I often argue that it's not just "oh this API matches the spec better" or "this API is lower maintenance" but rather that I've found certain APIs can almost trick developers into writing good code. It's a neat experience. That being said, there is some necessary internalization that a tool is solving a people problem which is maybe what OP is trying to get at. No matter how good an API is, if a developer is dead set on writing bad code, it'll be bad. So just deploying a new tool, no matter how clever, won't fix an organization that doesn't want to be fixed.