The flip side of the coin was that even good programmers and language designers tended to do terrible extensions when they were in the heat of programming, because design is something that is best done slowly and carefully.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Good design requires deliberate, slow thought rather than quick additions made during active development.
- In plain terms
- Design works best when done slowly, not during coding sprints.
- What can you take from it?
- Allocate time for careful design separate from coding.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When do you design versus code?
- How to balance speed and quality?
Another view
Agile workflows sometimes pressure teams to skip design phases.
More from Alan Kay
I hired finishers because I'm a good starter and a poor finisher.
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