The art of coding fast and slow


Inspired by the book “Thinking fast and slow” by Daniel Kahneman Link

Introduction

In tech. We need to validate products, features, and improvements fast. Because time and speed to market is so important. You are usually burning a lot of resources and money to get get a product into customer’s hands. So the pressure is to push out products fast. Naturally. No problem. Just code fast. But wait. How does that work exactly?

Coding fast

Use any means necessary to get from A to B. Skip fancy code, just use the simplest code you can write to get to a working prototype. Once you get there. Hold your horses. Test it with customers, get feedback. Is this worth refining from a stone to a diamond? If the answer is yes. The next phase is to clean up all the mess you made by moving fast.

Coding slow

Refactor, refine, rebuild. With the feedback, you got from your customers. Add tests, documentation, improve the UX / UI, etc. And ship.

Conclusion

Pretty simple really, yet I dare say that 90% of tech-establishments around the world skip the coding slow phase, just because the tech department usually has no influence or know-how when it comes to project management. But as problem solvers, this is a problem that can be solved, or it can at least be your competitive edge. Happy coding. Fast and slow.

A rushed victory is assured failure