Excerpt from John Carmack’s review of the book Bullshit Jobs.
He talks about how software developers bemoan duct taping systems together, and would rather work on core technologies. He thinks it is some tragic failure, that if only wise system design was employed, you wouldn’t be doing all the duct taping.
Wrong.
Every expansion in capabilities opens up the opportunity to duct tape it to new areas, and this is where a lot of value creation happens. Eventually, when a sufficient amount of duct tape is found in an area, it is an opportunity for systemic redesigns, but you don’t wait for that before grabbing newly visible low hanging fruit!
The realistic alternative to duct tape and other aesthetically disappointing code is often no code.
If you never do any duct taping, you will go bust. If you only ever do duct taping, you will also go bust eventually.