The Developer's Choice: Answering the "When?" in Software Development

[yamcodes]

Over the course of my journey as a full-stack developer, I've found myself frequently facing a dilemma; one potentially bigger than tabs or spaces or finding the perfect ORM. While I developed a skill of identifying and solving problems, when it comes to figuring out the 'when' to address these problems, that's a different beast altogether.

Let's call it "The Developer's Choice".

"The Developer's Choice" is no theoretical concept. It's a real-world conundrum, drawn from practical experiences, just like a recent PR in our codebase. While the example is trivial, it goes to show that the Developer's Choice is everywhere.

It's the decision whether to find the best solution in the here and now, researching best practices and addressing any and all edge cases that we can think of, or deliver a solution that just works, leaving improvements and perfections for the future.

My "developer sense" often tells me to avoid horizontal work; solve problems now so to reduce the amount of times we refactor big chunks of the codebase later. But there's this question in the back of my mind: Am I held back by a fear of doing things the 'wrong way'?

In navigating the Developer's Choice, the need for balance shines through. Aiming for perfection right off the bat might slow us down; it might kill motivation or even the entire project before it's off the ground. On the other hand, complete disregard for future improvements and best practices is a slippery slope too. It can make the discussion more sloppy, increase the technical debt and introduce bugs that might erupt at any given moment. This can also derail the project. What we really need is a rhythm, a sense of continuous momentum.

So, let's unpack this together. Join the conversation, share your experiences, insights, and let's uncover our ideal balance. To get the ball rolling, here's a short video from a Jonathan Blow, creator of 2008 video game Braid, on the topic.

Time to reflect: When faced with the Developer's Choice, what do you choose - code now or save for later?

[yamcodes]

Closing due to inactivity. I should make a blog post about this.