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Still no silver bullet

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2023-07-04 12:07:26 -04:00
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content/notes/first-it-must-work/index.md
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@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ references:
url: https://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology
date: 2023-07-04T03:40:17Z
file: mcfunley-com-5myzcq.txt
- title: "There's still no silver bullet |> Changelog"
url: https://changelog.com/posts/still-no-silver-bullet
date: 2023-07-04T16:04:24Z
file: changelog-com-kqx1ni.txt
---
### Thoughts on priorities in software development
@@ -56,6 +60,7 @@ references:
* [When to Build Millennia Sewers][6]
* [We are wasting up to 20% of our time on computer problems, says study][7]
* [Choose Boring Technology][8]
* [There's still no silver bullet][9]
[3]: https://grugbrain.dev/
[4]: https://world.hey.com/dhh/even-amazon-can-t-make-sense-of-serverless-or-microservices-59625580
@@ -63,3 +68,4 @@ references:
[6]: https://taylor.town/millennium-sewer
[7]: https://techxplore.com/news/2023-06-problems.html
[8]: https://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology
[9]: https://changelog.com/posts/still-no-silver-bullet

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#[1]News Feed (The Proverbial Fire Hose) [2]Master Feed (All Shows)
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[21]Jerod Santo [22]changelog.com/posts
There's still no silver bullet
a friendly reminder that you haven't found the panacea
by [23]Jerod Santo [24]2023-05-24T16:25:22Z [25]#practices +2
* [26]#history
* [27]#react
The late, great [28]Fred Brooks wrote many words about software
engineering. You may have heard of [29]Brooks’s Law or read his seminal
book, [30]The Mythical Man-Month. Even if you haven’t, you’ve probably
heard at least one colleague proclaim:
Nine women can’t make a baby in one month!
This is a powerful metaphor for two reasons. First: it’s so vivid that
it’s hard to forget (and easy to recall in a time of need). Second: it
makes obvious a not-so-obvious conclusion. Which is:
Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.
That’s a hard pill to swallow, especially when your project is late.
But it’s a truth pill, which makes it worth choking down. Here’s
another truth pill that Brooks wrote in his paper [31]No Silver
Bullet–Essence and Accident in Software Engineering:
There is no single development, in either technology or management
technique, which by itself promises even one order of magnitude
[tenfold] improvement within a decade in productivity, in
reliability, in simplicity.
__________________________________________________________________
For those who don’t understand the silver bullet reference… it’s
[32]pulled from folklore where a bullet cast from silver is the only
weapon that can kill a werewolf. Over time a silver bullet has come to
represent “a simple, seemingly magical, solution to a difficult
problem.” Brooks could have easily reached for [33]panacea instead, but
I think the shiny characteristic of silver makes it the perfect analog
to software solutions.
__________________________________________________________________
I’ve found myself referencing this a [34]couple [35]times recently.
Both of those conversations were in the context of [36]React, but the
principle applies to every over-adopted technology.
So, this post is a gentle reminder to my fellow software engineers:
* Does a new tool promise to solve all your problems? It won’t
* Do you think you’ve found the “one true tech”? You haven’t
* Have a shiny hammer that looks great for hitting screws? It isn’t
Please humor me while I [37]quote myself for a moment: (Hey, it’s
easier than writing)
IFRAME: [38]https://www.youtube.com/embed/btIc-_dGz9k
Subscribe to [39]our YouTube channel for more clips like this, live
show recordings, and more ✌️
We tend to be kind of lazy and just take the big hammer and hit all
the nails with it. Like, “Oh, I’ve found the panacea. This is gonna
solve all my problems”, because it does solve some of your problems
big-time.
But it’s also is gonna create other problems, and it’s also not
gonna fit in every place that you can shove it. I mean, I know
there’s React-based command line builders… And it’s like, okay, if
you like components, cool. That makes sense. But why is React
building your command-line app? I just don’t understand.
When I extemporaneously said “I just don’t understand”, I meant that
the choice confounds me. But I do understand why people might make it.
Saying “use the right tool for the job” is easy, but actually selecting
the right tool for the job is anything but. Good tools are hard to
find, hard to evaluate, hard to learn. We have constraints, we have
biases, we have shortcomings.
But that’s all part of the work.
And if you “just use Go” or “just use React” or “just use Postgres” for
every problem that crosses your keyboard, you’re just not putting in
the work.
(And I say this as a guy who uses Postgres for most things! 😆)
__________________________________________________________________
If you enjoyed reading this, you’ll probably enjoy [40]Changelog News,
my free weekly podcast + newsletter covering developer news worth your
attention. I keep it brief (~8 min), entertaining & always on-point.
Not so sure? Check out a [41]recent issue!
Software moves fast. We help you keep up. Our weekly newsletter is
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Discussion
[42]Sign in or [43]Join to comment or subscribe
(BUTTON)
(BUTTON) Solomon Ucko
sollyucko
[44]Solomon Ucko
Solomon Ucko
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[48]2023-05-25T03:42:39Z ago
just use Rust, except possibly when you’re working with a platform
designed for another language (e.g. web => HTML/CSS/JS, Android => Java
or Kotlin, macOS/iOS => Objective-C or Swift, Microsoft Office macros
=> Visual Basic), though Rust does have FFI crates for all of these.
[49]reply
(BUTTON)
(BUTTON) James Harr
jamesharr
[50]James Harr
James Harr
* [51]GitHub
[52]2023-05-27T12:55:20Z ago
Nine women can’t make a baby in one month!
I quoted this to my wife once while trying to explain the concept from
the book. She knew what I meant, but said (paraphrasing) it’s a micro
aggression to pick out women and I might want to pick another example.
After some reflection and an initial knee jerk internal reaction of
“no, it’s a fine example”, I agree with her. There’s no reason to
change the book – it is what it is, it was written at a point in time,
and it did it’s job of getting the readers to think. All that said, we
can come up with a better example for the present and future. I don’t
know what that example is, but I know we can do better.
[53]reply
(BUTTON)
(BUTTON) Jerod Santo
jerodsanto
[54]Jerod Santo
Jerod Santo
Omaha, Nebraska
Jerod co-hosts [55]The Changelog, crashes [56]JS Party, and takes out
the trash (his old code) once in awhile.
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[60]2023-05-27T13:36:23Z ago
How is it a micro aggression? I do not understand.
[61]reply
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(BUTTON) James Harr
jamesharr
[62]James Harr
James Harr
* [63]GitHub
[64]2023-05-27T16:02:25Z ago
Well, maybe micro aggression isn’t the right term, but it’s something
that left a bad taste in her mouth and I’m trying to remember exactly
how she described it. I think you almost have to put your self in the
shoes of someone who 1) has had to work upstream in an industry because
of their gender 2) has had to deal with people in a society that see a
women’s “job” is to bear children and careers come second at best 3)
has had to deal with a lot of people having opinions over your body and
what you do with it, most of which do not share your anatomy. After
putting yourself in that position, the comparison starts to feel more
icky.
I’ll be honest, I’m defending a view I don’t entirely “get” and may not
be capable of understanding. However, after seeing her reaction when I
said that quote, this is one of those times where I’m going to say “I
believe you”. I’ve been incredibly privileged in this world as a white
male, and that’s a pretty big blindspot, so I’m putting trust in
someone else to see what’s there.
I’m not going to fault anyone for quoting it and you have nothing to
apologize for; Part of the reason that quote works so effectively is
how ridiculous it is. I’m just going to challenge people to do better,
and it’s going to be hard.
[65]reply
(BUTTON)
(BUTTON) Jerod Santo
jerodsanto
[66]Jerod Santo
Jerod Santo
Omaha, Nebraska
Jerod co-hosts [67]The Changelog, crashes [68]JS Party, and takes out
the trash (his old code) once in awhile.
* [69]Twitter
* [70]GitHub
* [71]LinkedIn
[72]2023-05-28T12:43:12Z ago
I’ll be honest, I’m defending a view I don’t entirely “get” and may
not be capable of understanding. However, after seeing her reaction
when I said that quote, this is one of those times where I’m going
to say “I believe you”
That’s a fair stance to take, but it doesn’t produce much of a
convincing argument that will drive people to change. If you want
people to starting using a better metaphor, I challenge you to come up
with one.
[73]reply
(BUTTON)
(BUTTON) Bryan Betts
bryan-ffd
[74]Bryan Betts
Bryan Betts
* [75]GitHub
[76]2023-06-28T12:58:27Z ago
“Over time a silver bullet has come to represent “a simple, seemingly
magical, solution to a difficult problem.”
Well, maybe - but what you’re actually referring to here is a magic
bullet, or Zauberkugel. Over time, some people - yes, including
award-winning engineers and scientists - have come to confuse the two.
[77]reply
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28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Brooks
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31. http://worrydream.com/refs/Brooks-NoSilverBullet.pdf
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