John Cox’s Post

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Leader / Coder

I recently started a software project from scratch. It got me thinking about how that process has changed for me with experience and the evolution of tools and patterns. Here's how I think about investing in things that aren't necessarily the code your users see in order to iterate more quickly and effectively: https://lnkd.in/gg-nEuyf

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Investment Advice

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Great write-up. Starting projects fully equipped with tests, linters, CI/CD, documentation, and more, is seldom regretted. Developers often defer these essentials, planning to add them later, but building processes around an incomplete stack makes it difficult to integrate them afterward. This deferment incurs high costs and erodes ROI. It’s tough to prioritize as it involves reworking and playing catch-up, often with lost vital information. It’s better to over-index on these elements from the start. I’ve repeatedly seen the consequences of neglecting this, either in my projects or inherited ones. Consider the future—much of our work automates manual tasks. The true ROI is not merely the time saved but the additional value that an engineer could have produced instead. Investing in automating engineering tasks pays off significantly.

Zachary Perez

Enterprise Account Executive at LaunchDarkly

3mo

Great article, John! Makes me think of a great case study by McKinsey that talks about “Developer Velocity” and how businesses that are achieving the greatest returns from their software investments are those willing to tackle entrenched cultural and structural barriers. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/developer-velocity-how-software-excellence-fuels-business-performance

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