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   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 13:09:09 JST Paul Cantrell

   PRO TIP: Instead of making it hard, don’t

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 13:10:04 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     This sounds obvious, but it’s surprising how often people need to be reminded of it. Like me, for example.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 13:12:53 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     I propose the idiom “leave the wolf,” possibly accompanied by “Why do we need a wolf?,” after this comic:
     https://xkcd.com/1134/

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 13:24:28 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • McNulla

     @mcnulla
     High praise!

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     McNulla (mcnulla@techhub.social)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 13:24:29 JST McNulla

     in reply to

     @inthehands
     That’s better than yagni

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 13:41:25 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     This is indeed a close friend of YAGNI. To my mind, “leave the wolf” is specifically about accepting that it’s OK if the problem at hand has a simple solution, resisting the urge to complicate things until the complication is a problem — to turn the situation into a logic puzzle.

     “Maybe we should grab those groceries on the way there…” “Nah, leave the wolf.”

     https://techhub.social/@mcnulla/111820321747076078

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 14:21:59 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Jesse Morris

     @aubilenon always

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     Jesse Morris (aubilenon@escaperooms.social)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 14:22:07 JST Jesse Morris

     in reply to

     @inthehands Aw but now I’m hungry for groceries

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 14:26:45 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Cory Carson

     Taking @corycarson’s wisecrack seriously, because it is serious:
     https://gnu.gl/@corycarson/111820431351256065

     The idiom applies to those times when you have a choice, to •realizing• when you have the choice of making things easy.

     It’s not about wolves that are attacking you. [Aside: wolves rarely attack humans unless threatened; they are much maligned that way.] It’s about (as in the comic) when the wolf is optional, it’s easy without the wolf, and you realize you can just leave the wolf and it’s •fine•.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 14:30:35 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     In software, the wolf often takes the form of putative requirements that have become untethered from the problem they solve. Leaving the implementation team about goals and context creates the freedom to leave the wolf; giving the implementation team a rigid design or feature checklist leaves them needlessly paddling the boat across the river multiple times.

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     voxpopsicle (voxpopsicle@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 14:40:08 JST voxpopsicle

     in reply to

     @inthehands wisdom!

     although there are probably a minority of situations where the team gets to the other side sans wolf and realize that the wolf was keeping the local rabbit population under control, etc

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 14:40:08 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • voxpopsicle

     @voxpopsicle Indeed, “why” is a question that’s just as crucial about the features you’re cutting as it is about the ones you’re including.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 15:20:15 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Nate Cook

     @nnnnnnnn I am delighted and honored to be of service

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     Nate Cook (nnnnnnnn@mas.to)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 15:20:16 JST Nate Cook

     in reply to

     @inthehands Can’t say how much I needed to read this today

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     Zorro Notorious MEB 😡 (algocompsynth@ravenation.club)'s status on Saturday, 27-Jan-2024 01:25:46 JST Zorro Notorious MEB 😡

     in reply to

     @inthehands Outside of you is a wolf, a goat and a cabbage.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 27-Jan-2024 01:47:57 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Rachel Rawlings

     @LinuxAndYarn Then the wolf eats you and you’re set for Klein Bottle jokes

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     Rachel Rawlings (linuxandyarn@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Jan-2024 01:47:59 JST Rachel Rawlings

     in reply to

     @inthehands Eat the wolf. When you have to cross the next river, and there's another wolf waiting on the river bank, you can eat that one two. Then you'll be ready for all the "two wolves inside you" jokes.

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     Robb Kidd (robbkidd@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 28-Jan-2024 01:22:05 JST Robb Kidd

     in reply to

     @inthehands •snaps•

     This has come up as an idiom with our team in the form of "OK, but what if we did less?"