3 ms·

The importance of being a lazy dev

25 points by poissonpie 15y ago

StavrosK 15y ago
Ugh, another pandering, self-promoting article on the importance of not doing the same things over and over again. Guess what, it's not developer-specific, everyone knows that you should avoid repeating as much work as possible.
- yzhengyu 15y ago
  Unfortunately, I have worked in places where the culture was so poisonous and the appraisal scheme so skewed that employees of high ability had plenty of incentive not to do this. So this is not a given. Fortunately, I am no longer in that location.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- philhawksworth 15y ago
  Of course it's not specific to developers, but this was written about development processes by a developer. I also think that this is particular pertinent to development, where technical debt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_debt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_debt) can quickly spiral out of control. Too often, I've worked on projects where the approach of 'just get it done, and automate it another day' has lead to one compromise and quick fix being piled onto of another. The effort to automate early is just incredibly valuable and worth shouting about in my opinion.
Hyena 15y ago
It should just be rewritten to: "the importance of being lazy". If you can automate a task, you're an office hero and "a miracle worker" in most places. And just like a "miracle worker", you may have come near an auto de fe more times than you're comfortable with for your trouble. Lots of people don't get and so don't like automation of any kind.
andrewingram 15y ago
I often say, half in jest, that as a developer it is my job to go to great efforts in the pursuit of laziness. Despite the implications for my lifestyle, if I can make myself redundant, I've probably done a good job.
- Iv 15y ago
  And if you can make your boss redundant, you'll be the worst employee ever.
  - johnpapps 15y ago
    A good developer cannot be the cause of their bosses redundancy.
wccrawford 15y ago
I've long said this. I absolutely despise doing the same thing over and over and it pushes me to automate things sooner and better than other devs who don't mind so much.
icebraining 15y ago
"We will encourage you to develop the three great virtues of a programmer: laziness, impatience, and hubris." -- LarryWall http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?LazinessImpatienceHubris http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?LazinessImpatienceHubris

25 points by poissonpie 15y ago

Ugh, another pandering, self-promoting article on the importance of not doing the same things over and over again. Guess what, it's not developer-specific, everyone knows that you should avoid repeating as much work as possible.

yzhengyu 15y ago
Unfortunately, I have worked in places where the culture was so poisonous and the appraisal scheme so skewed that employees of high ability had plenty of incentive not to do this. So this is not a given. Fortunately, I am no longer in that location.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
philhawksworth 15y ago
Of course it's not specific to developers, but this was written about development processes by a developer. I also think that this is particular pertinent to development, where technical debt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_debt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_debt) can quickly spiral out of control. Too often, I've worked on projects where the approach of 'just get it done, and automate it another day' has lead to one compromise and quick fix being piled onto of another. The effort to automate early is just incredibly valuable and worth shouting about in my opinion.

Hyena 15y ago

It should just be rewritten to: "the importance of being lazy". If you can automate a task, you're an office hero and "a miracle worker" in most places. And just like a "miracle worker", you may have come near an auto de fe more times than you're comfortable with for your trouble. Lots of people don't get and so don't like automation of any kind.

andrewingram 15y ago

I often say, half in jest, that as a developer it is my job to go to great efforts in the pursuit of laziness. Despite the implications for my lifestyle, if I can make myself redundant, I've probably done a good job.

Iv 15y ago
And if you can make your boss redundant, you'll be the worst employee ever.
- johnpapps 15y ago
  A good developer cannot be the cause of their bosses redundancy.

wccrawford 15y ago

I've long said this. I absolutely despise doing the same thing over and over and it pushes me to automate things sooner and better than other devs who don't mind so much.

icebraining 15y ago

"We will encourage you to develop the three great virtues of a programmer: laziness, impatience, and hubris." -- LarryWall http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?LazinessImpatienceHubris http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?LazinessImpatienceHubris