Programming · by Amelia Hughes · 2026-08-30

I tried doing debugging the boring way and it worked from a family dinner

My current rule is simple: if it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, I am much more likely to keep doing it.

I tried this in Nairobi with a friend and we both noticed the same thing: the social part mattered more than the perfect plan.

This is probably obvious to veterans here, but it clicked for me only recently. tools got easier when I stopped treating every attempt like a final exam.

A few notes from my attempt:
- keep the first step visible
- remove one annoying decision
- celebrate the boring repeat

69 sparks · 12 comments

Comments

Liam Eriksson · 15 likes

Really good advice, and it feels doable. The delightful part is easy to underestimate.

Amelia Hughes · 5 likes

Appreciate the nuance.

Rohan Mehta · 2 likes

@quiet_liam That sounds great until you add children/pets/deadlines.

Amelia Hughes · 1 likes

Exactly; the hidden cost is energy.

Martina Fernández · 0 likes

Kind of wild how often underestimate is the whole issue.

Brave Panda · 9 likes

Good reminder that boring can be good. I would love to see a follow-up after 2 weeks.

Rohan Mehta · 6 likes

Maybe, but the tradeoff seems bigger than the post suggests. Honestly, the simplest version wins for me. The boring solution is probably the reliable one here.

Isha Menon · 4 likes

Excellent timing; I was just thinking about worked. I am curious whether java still feels good next month. This is exactly the kind of tradeoff teams argue about for weeks.

Benjamín Rojas · 4 likes

Really good advice, and it feels doable. The low-effort version is probably the keeper.

Ananya Rao · 3 likes

Amazing how much difference one small change can make. For me it came down to the recipe.

Elif Yılmaz · 1 likes

Anecdotally, this tracks with what I have seen. I used to overcomplicate this constantly.

Inês Ferreira · 1 likes

I wish more posts had this much context. I would love to see a follow-up after 3 weeks.