[eeeeaaii]

I would have agreed with this up until about a year ago. But I've recently discovered a new way of thinking about the development process that IMO is far superior, and more importantly, far healthier in the long run.

The way I used to think about development was that there were separate phases: building, debugging, then launching, then you stop working on it because it's "done." Then, I suppose, you go on vacation and sip Mai Tai's on the beach.

The thing is, once you get rid of the "done" phase, your whole perspective changes. The other three phases (building, debugging, launching) get mixed together in a blender. Suddenly, any time you hack something, it's okay because you're going to fix/change/refactor it later. It's all part of one big growing, changing, process -- a process that actually fits with the literal meaning of the term "development."

So it's not about pride anymore for me, it's about humility. These days, when I build something, I start off hacking something together in the quickest way possible, no matter how ugly. Then I just keep iterating, refactoring, fixing, cleaning: improving, improving, improving. So there is never a moment when you proudly show off a gleaming, fancy product and say "look, I'm done!" There's always something that works, something that doesn't -- something that needs to be completely rewritten, something that looks good and you haven't touched in months (or years).

The great thing about doing this is that it's a good way to keep yourself from being an "architecture astronaut." If you start with a hack and build refactoring into your process from the very beginning, you'll never build out more architecture than you need, because every time you use a design pattern it will be a direct response to a real need, not an imagined future need.

To conclude, I'll leave you with this quote from Walt Whitman, talking about the "deathbed edition" of "Leaves of Grass" -- a book he revised nine times during his life, which grew from 12 poems to 400 during his lifetime.

"L. of G. at last complete—after 33 y'rs of hackling at it, all times & moods of my life, fair weather & foul, all parts of the land, and peace & war, young & old"

Not sure what "hackling" means, but it sure sounds a lot like hacking!