←back to thread

Do the simplest thing that could possibly work

(www.seangoedecke.com)
1070 points dondraper36 | 1 comments | 29 Aug 25 19:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.235s | source
Show context
sfpotter ◴[29 Aug 25 20:36 UTC] No.45069112[source]▶
Generally speaking, when I hear people say this, it's a huge red flag. Really, any time anyone puts forth any kind of broad proclamation about how software development should be done, my hackles go up. Either they don't know what they're talking about, they're full of shit, or both. The only reasonable thing to conclude after lots of experience with software development is that it's hard and requires care and deliberation. There is no one-size-fits-all advice. What I want to see is people who are open-minded and thoughtful.
replies(8): >>45069256 #>>45069351 #>>45069358 #>>45069645 #>>45069655 #>>45069794 #>>45070229 #>>45070818 #
1. dondraper36 ◴[29 Aug 25 21:03 UTC] No.45069358[source]▶
I see your point, but, taken to the extreme, all it leaves us with is "everything is a trade-off" or "there's no free lunch".

Some generalizations are necessary to formalize the experience we have accumulated in the industry and teach newcomers.

The obvious problem is that, for some strange reason, lots of concepts and patterns that may be useful when applied carefully become a cult (think clean architecture and clean code), which eventually only makes the industry worse.

For example, clean architecture/ports and adapters/hexagonal/whatever, as I see it, is a very sane and pragmatic idea in general. But somehow, all battles are around how to name folders.