

Ask HN: What's best for hacking, to build fast or to think hard? - read


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orthecreedence
Think hard, then build fast. Nobody said you can't do both. There's a balance
though: think too much, and your "perfect" system never gets built. Hack too
fast and you're going to have to rebuild when you realize you did it
completely wrong.

I think it can be personal too. I tend to be more slow and thoughtful. Once I
get a really great idea, my fingers start flying, but until I get to that
point, it's a lot of slow prototyping and trying to think of better ways to do
it (to a point).

Find what balance works for you.

~~~
read
I wish there was a way to tell, preferably sooner than later, whether thinking
hard or building fast is better than the other. How would you know if you're
doing the right thing?

~~~
orthecreedence
Practice, my friend! Pick a project and start working on it. A year later,
you'll look back and chuckle at how obvious the flaws in the project were.
Rinse and repeat. After a while, you just get a sense for "am I sitting around
thinking too much?" or "hmm maybe I should plan this one out before jumping
in."

One thing that took me _years_ to learn is that the devil's in the details,
especially if you're in uncharted territory. Thinking is what uncovers those
details _before_ you're forced to do a rewrite.

> How would you know if you're doing the right thing?

Does it work? Can you look over the code and think "I did this twice as well
as my last piece of work?" Those are probably the best metrics.

------
staunch

      while (1) {
         Think() && Build() && GetFeedback()
         Exercise("1h")
         Sleep("8h")
      }

------
glimcat
What's best for warfare, to move fast or strike hard?

~~~
erobbins
germany and japan moved fast, the US and the USSR struck hard...

