
Why only fools write code first - kareemm
https://www.reemer.com/articles/why-only-fools-write-code-first
======
scarface74
I once worked for a department in a large at the time F10 company. My manager
was the founder of the startup that was acquired.

As the founder, he had been scrappy, found a need in market that was a large
highly regulated two sided B2B market. His team wrote a web app/mobile app
(ruggedized Windows CE devices). By the time his company was acquired, they
had 90% of addressable market, but didn’t have two or three of the largest
players.

After being acquired, the acquiring company made him relocate and most of his
former employees didn’t want to relocate. He was under 30 and hired a bunch of
“smart people” in their 20s to expand to the other side of the B2B market.

This time, with plenty of money and not having to worry about financing, he
lost the plot. The “smart people” spent more time being concerned with proper
unit testing and code coverage, “good architecture”, “good processes”, etc.
two years later, we had a wonderful product no one wanted. But, the three of
the five biggest players were interested in the “legacy” product.

None of us wanted to be building on a PHP product and raises weren’t
forthcoming because our team wasn’t making money. We all saw the writing on
the wall and all 15 of us left within the next six months - starting with me.
I was the oldest by 10 years and far less idealistic.

No one listened to me when I kept asking “how will these conversations about
best practices help us in the market? What does the customer want?”

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jasoneckert
I can appreciate the angle the author provides in this blog post, because I'm
sure it will work for many startups.

However, there are many others where it simply won't work because a functional
prototype is necessary to procure interest and funding. And the quality and
depth of that prototype is key to achieving this as well.

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seba_dos1
Do only fools write webpages (with nothing but simple text) that are just
white empty space when JavaScript is disabled?

~~~
AndrewDucker
Because the number of people who disable JavaScript is so low that they are
not worth considering when designing something?

~~~
throwaway_jones
Even if that were true (it isn't), a site should still consider non-javascript
rendering for accessibility purposes.

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anotheryou
There are things that need prototypes.

You can mock a bit, write about it, but if it works you can sometimes only
find out in practice.

How would you build a minimal tic-tok competing with insta stories and
snapchat? Surely not with youtube playlists or something.

Or dropbox: usb-drives in ubers?

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tenbino
Sometimes it takes writing software and modifying it to even discover what
your idea is.

It’s like painting.

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wdiamond
Suppose you know everything, why would bother to help others? with altruism(a
fool?), or for money(a poor?). Suppose you know nothing. Could you sell what
you don't know? And if it sells what would you deliver? I believe if you are
good enough you won't waste too much money selling.

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SahAssar
This sounds like it only works for ideas that are easily codeable, otherwise
you get stuff like theranos (and IMO hyperloop and wework) where the
marketing, hype and customers are there before you even know if it's possible
to build sustainably.

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scoot_718
Oh yeah, you never want to experiment with code, no, you should write a design
doc first.

~~~
lecarore
To be fair, he raises a fair point. The title should be "don't invest heavily
in coding from the start, talk to your future customers first, if those are
available, if you are trying to make money with your project" but it's less
catchy. I've been guilty of building things nobody needed and it's not a nice
feeling

