The best code is no code

Dear new developer,

It’s paradoxical, but sometimes the best thing you can do is not write code. Remember, the value you provide is to solve the problem you are faced with (the outcome), not to write code. Custom code has value, but comes with costs. It needs to be deployed, maintained and upgraded. It has bugs. It requires a developer to change. It also has opportunity cost. Writing custom code to accomplish task A means that you won’t have time to accomplish task B, which may be either more urgent, more important or both.

There are a couple of ways in which you might solve a business problem with out writing a lick of code.

• Use a library or framework. For instance, I worked at a place where they had written their own database connection pool. Why? I never got a great answer, but it wasn’t clear to me that one of the open source solutions wouldn’t have worked. You need to have an awareness of such libraries to be able to propose this.
• Use a third party SaaS tool. I’ve seen people run their own in house git repositories. There may be good reasons to do this (including security or privacy concerns). But Github is going to give you a far better experience and unless you have a big team, probably better security and privacy. You need to know what the problem, the solution and the cost are to make an effective suggestion.
• De prioritize the work. I was at a meeting with a CEO and we were talking about continuing an effort to integrate a set of outside data sources. I asked why, and we discussed it a bit further. It became clear that the reason we were thinking about doing it was because of inertia. It became clear that there was no real business reason to do it, and we prioritized other work instead. A clear roadmap and the willingness to question requirements are helpful with this path.
• Do it manually. I was working on a startup and we had the need to occasionally refund customers. I could have integrated with the payment provider and had this case be handled automatically, but it was much much easier to document the process and handle it manually. Refunds happened rarely enough that there was no value in automating them. Here it is helpful to know how often the problem arises, how long it takes to fix manually, and how often it will arise in the foreseeable future.

Now, sometimes you may not understand the larger context of your work. You may propose a solution that isn’t the right fit, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with writing custom code to solve a problem.

In cases where I’m not sure I have full understanding, I always preface my questions with “I am not sure I have the full picture, but I think we could solve the business problem using solution A or project B, rather than writing custom code.” If you are working directly with the client, they likely won’t care, as long as the problem is solved. If you are on a team, the engineer or project manager running your project should have a good understanding of alternatives and why custom code might be the right solution. Most folks will be happy to share that reasoning with you.

In short, it’s better to keep your eyes on solving the business problem and be aware that custom code isn’t always the right answer.

Dan

PS No, this isn’t an April Fools Day post 🙂