
The process of programming explained in an animated GIF - ColinWright
http://i.minus.com/ibaDjk7AeIcvxv.gif
======
user24
We are insatiable problem-solvers. The truly great ones can find the right
compromise between rabbit-holing like this and actually getting the important
work done.

~~~
ColinWright
Technical term is "Yak-Shaving"

[http://catb.org/jargon/html/Y/yak-
shaving.html](http://catb.org/jargon/html/Y/yak-shaving.html)

[http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/03/dont_shave_t...](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/03/dont_shave_that.html)

[http://www.spaceclearing.com/blog/2013/03/22/mastering-
the-a...](http://www.spaceclearing.com/blog/2013/03/22/mastering-the-art-of-
yak-shaving/)

[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving)

~~~
user24
I like Seth's final thought; Doing it well now is much better than doing it
perfectly later.

------
gukjoon
The engineer ends up under the car. The hacker doesn't even change the bulb.

~~~
jvzr
With a good mirror and sunlight, I hack my way around changing the lightbulb.

I know what I'm talking about: no less than 3 lightbulbs went off in my
apartment last month...

------
dmead
is hackernews /r/pics now?

~~~
ColinWright
Clearly there are many who agree with you, since despite the large number of
upvotes, this item has fallen a very, very long way from the front page.

However, I feel that you've missed the point. There is a very real phenomenon
in programming (and in life in general) for finding oneself in an ever-
lengthening chain of tasks, all spawned as sub-tasks of something you want to
accomplish. The challenge is always to find the right place to stop, re-
assess, and possibly abandon the existing stack in order to get the original
task done.

Yes, this an an image. Yes, it's intended to be humorous, but no, it's not
just a funny picture. It carries a real message.

Perhaps the HN audience doesn't have anything constructive to say about the
general problem of Yak-Shaving. Perhaps the problem has no real solution.
Perhaps there is a solution, but the HN community isn't clever enough, or
motivated enough, or interested enough to try to solve it.

But it would be nice to see some intelligent discussion.

