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Discussion on: Pragmatic Programmer: Pragmatic Philosophy

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jacobvarney profile image
jacobvarney

I feel like there's an important corollary to "Don't Live with Broken Windows" that I live by, which in sum is "Have Less Windows". Given what you read so far, what do you think about the idea of balance as it relates to both moving forward and improving what's already there? My organization gets a bit ahead of itself in trying new initiatives instead of improving current processes (or, living with broken/low-quality windows).

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jake profile image
jake

I absolutely agree with your "Have Less Windows" corollary. "Keep it simple stupid!" as my former professor used to say. But, I think the importance is more so keeping those windows intact. Adding functionality is adding windows, and doing so is a necessary part of product development. Moving forward knowing something is broken creates the snowball effect of entropy, and will be more difficult to deal with the longer one waits.

My organization gets a bit ahead of itself in trying new initiatives instead of improving current processes (or, living with broken/low-quality windows).

I know this all too well. I have found it can be difficult to deal with this depending on the size of the organization and the size of the team. Sometimes the broken windows are out of one's scope of work, but do have an effect on the overall productivity of the team. My opinion so far is that it is a joint effort on the individual within the team to hold themselves accountable for their own work, and management to be open to suggestions and improvement in the project management life cycle.

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jacobvarney profile image
jacobvarney

Thanks for replying! KISS is something I'm coming to understand for myself in not overly complicating/complexifying things.

My opinion so far is that it is a joint effort on the individual within the team to hold themselves accountable for their own work, and management to be open to suggestions and improvement in the project management life cycle.

That's a good wisdom, thank you!