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paulg's profile
Paul Graham
Paul Graham
Paul Graham
Verified account
@paulg

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Paul GrahamVerified account

@paulg

paulgraham.com
Joined August 2010

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    Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 21 Apr 2017

    Technical debt is bad, but (more often than not) optimal.

    1:48 AM - 21 Apr 2017
    • 275 Retweets
    • 636 Likes
    • Wang, Ted cuneyt buyukbezci malachi d.Candela's Laurent Pantanacce 🤖 Mohammad Satrio Clydes Ron ChanOu Craig Tiller
    32 replies 275 retweets 636 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        Interestingly, incurring technical debt tends to be the optimal strategy for individuals as well as for startups.

        9 replies 48 retweets 155 likes
      3. Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        Young programmers are better off not starting with the theoretical foundations of CS, but by eagerly writing crappy programs.

        55 replies 355 retweets 715 likes
      4. Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        That sounds obvious, doesn't it? And yet few if any schools and universities can bring themselves to teach programming this way.

        22 replies 31 retweets 112 likes
      5. Chris Barchak‏ @cbarchak 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        Are there really computer science majors who haven’t already been programmers for 10+ years?

        10 replies 1 retweet 18 likes
      6. Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @cbarchak

        Oh dude. You have no idea how many angry people there are on Twitter who are eager to answer that for you.

        3 replies 0 retweets 74 likes
      7. Chris Barchak‏ @cbarchak 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        I’m sure you’re right. But how many art majors made their first pencil sketch at 18?

        6 replies 1 retweet 26 likes
      8. Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @cbarchak

        I'm not disagreeing with you so much as explaining that this is a topic some people have very strong political beliefs about.

        4 replies 0 retweets 13 likes
      9. Yaron Minsky‏ @yminsky 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg @cbarchak

        The objection is factual, not political. Few CS undergrads have deep experience with programming before school.

        3 replies 0 retweets 22 likes
      10. 10 more replies
      1. New conversation
      2. Steven Joseph‏ @asyncmind 23 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        Aim for no technical debt, you might end up with optimal debt. Aim for optimal debt, you will end up with hot pile :p

        1 reply 24 retweets 72 likes
      3. 1 more reply
      1. New conversation
      2. Kent Beck‏Verified account @KentBeck 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        If the natural state is "barely clean enough not to collapse", then maybe that's optimal and theories & intuition are wrong cc @patrickc

        2 replies 4 retweets 6 likes
      3. Jason Crawford‏ @jasoncrawford 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @KentBeck @paulg @patrickc

        I think this is the natural state for things experiencing healthy growth. Only time things can get cleaned up is when they slow down

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. Jason Crawford‏ @jasoncrawford 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @jasoncrawford @KentBeck and

        Which is not always bad. Sometimes fundamental layers should slow down and get cleaned up while new stuff is built on top of them

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      5. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Coba Weel‏ @weel 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        IME you want mgt support for paying tech debt, find tech debt that impacts many people, and fix incrementally, with usable results along way

        1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
      3. Coba Weel‏ @weel 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @weel @paulg

        Problem isn't that no tech debt is ever worth paying. But you have to pick highest interest debt first, so to speak.

        0 replies 1 retweet 4 likes
      4. End of conversation
      1. Nick Craver‏Verified account @Nick_Craver 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg @ID_AA_Carmack

        To a point :)

        0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
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      1. Joshua J. Arnold‏ @joshuajames 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        Joshua J. Arnold Retweeted Joshua J. Arnold

        Here's a more nuanced view of Technical Debt that explains why it's sometimes good...https://twitter.com/joshuajames/status/566544634332327936 …

        Joshua J. Arnold added,

        Joshua J. Arnold @joshuajames
        Everyone who talks about Technical Debt should really read this by @DReinertsen: http://reinertsenassociates.com/technical-debt-adding-math-metaphor/ …
        0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Omar Bohsali‏ @omarish 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        Tech debt isn't categorically bad; it's just turns bad when it's not paid off in a timely fashion.

        1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
      3. Omar Bohsali‏ @omarish 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @omarish @paulg

        In a lot of cases, it's a lot easier to grow a startup with technical debt (prototyped solutions) than it is by raising an equity round.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      4. End of conversation
      1. Gary Mackenzie‏ @garymackenzie 21 Apr 2017
        Replying to @paulg

        If you accept the caveat that, like all debt, it's something you should have some kind of plan to pay off. Even if it's a bit vague...

        0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
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