Zen and the Art of Merging Code
The product owner asked, “How long will this take?” The developer answered, “Three days.” It took three weeks. The senior developer asked, “Was your estimate wrong?” “Yes.” “Was the work wrong?” “No.” “Then what was being measured?” Sitting with the Koan Every developer has lived this koan. The estimate was wrong. The work was not. […]
The developer wrapped every function in try-catch blocks. “Now nothing can go wrong,” they declared. The senior developer asked, “If you catch all errors, what throws them?” And then, “When you handle an error, where does it go?” What Are We Really Asking? Error handling reveals something fundamental about how we think about our systems […]
The team achieved 100% test coverage. They celebrated their thoroughness. The senior developer asked, “What percentage of your understanding is covered?” And then, “If every line is tested, what remains untested?” Understanding the Koan We treat code coverage as a destination, a number that validates our diligence. When that metric reaches 100%, we feel we’ve […]
At standup, each developer spoke of their work. “I debugged the notification service yesterday,” said one. The senior developer listened, then asked, “When you found the bug, had it been waiting for you, or were you waiting for it?” “I… I don’t know.” “In the moment of discovery, who discovered whom?” Dwelling in the Question […]
