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If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It
Richard Rost 
          
14 days ago
This is a follow-up to my previous articles, Perfect is the Enemy of Good and Gold Plating.

There's a saying as old as time (or at least as old as your grandpa's toolbox): "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It's simple advice, but it's ignored far too often, especially in software development and video production. The temptation to tinker, tweak, or improve something that's already working can be overwhelming. But as Scotty might warn you, it's one thing to refit the Enterprise for a five-year mission; it's another to rewire the warp core when there's no need.

When it comes to software development, this principle is especially important. Let's say you've built a functional database or application. It's not flashy, but it meets the needs of your users. Then one day, you decide to optimize the code, redesign the interface, or add new features nobody asked for. Before you know it, you've introduced new bugs, broken backward compatibility, or frustrated your users who were perfectly happy with the way things were.

I've been there. Early in my career, I'd revisit old projects simply because I had learned something new or thought I could do it "better." Sometimes I'd even do it to my customers. But worse, I'd test it in my own database (the one that runs my business!) and break things. Just the other day, I tried "optimizing" my nightly event code, and it sent some of you 50 of the same email. See? An unnecessary "upgrade" caused a big glitch.

The same thing applies to video production. I used to spend hours re-recording videos just to fix a minor stumble in my speech or to update a tiny detail that had changed. In hindsight, those changes didn't improve the overall value of the content. Viewers care about learning something useful, not whether I paused for a second too long or pronounced a word differently. I know how a lot of you have commented on my pronunciation of the word "array" LOL.

Fixing something that's already good enough can create more problems than it solves. And in the case of software or videos, it can distract you from more important tasks, like creating something new.

This principle also ties into maintaining focus and avoiding burnout. If you're constantly revisiting old work, you're not moving forward. Instead of obsessing over whether your existing projects could be slightly better, focus on delivering new value. Whether it's a fresh video tutorial, a new feature for your software, or even just a much-needed break, your time is better spent looking ahead rather than back.

So, the next time you feel the urge to fix something that isn't broken, ask yourself: Is this change necessary? Does it solve an actual problem, or is it just a way to scratch an itch? If it's the latter, you're better off leaving well enough alone. After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Unless, of course, Scotty is yelling about the dilithium crystals. In that case, fix it quickly, but otherwise, just keep the Enterprise on course.

Oh, and one more thing... like I always say: backup, backup, and backup again. Not only should you keep an automated nightly backup, but any time you feel the need to tinker, no matter how small you think the change is going to be, make a backup first. Back up the form you're going to change, back up the module you're going to edit, back up the entire database file. I've gone in even on my website thinking I'm just going to make a minor little tweak here, and then the whole site goes down because I misspelled a keyword or something. So even if you think you're just going to be tinkering for two minutes and it's not going to be a big deal, make a backup right then and there.
Richard Rost OP 
          
14 days ago

Thomas Gonder 
       
14 days ago
Ha ha, 90% of Microsoft development is just renaming or moving some existing control or app. Often removing features as in New Outlook. Control Panel has been around since when? But the new Windows 11 configuration won't let you set a DNS address for an adaptor. In other words, we depend on a company that "fixes" stuff that did work and won't address the things that don't work.

Now, to be fair, often users request/need some new features (not a bug fix) and more times than not, when dealing with a complete architecture, you just gotta bite the bullet and start over. Remember Windows, NT, NEXT and Linux?

In Access, I would like to be able to do proper instancing of objects like forms and multiple calls to a module that don't corrupt static data. Microsoft didn't even iron-plate those things before releasing it as good enough. Fixing them, I'm pretty sure, will require a complete rewrite of some elemental portions of Access. And we'll all be suffering a new rash of bugs when/if that happens.

Richard Rost OP 
          
14 days ago
I loved Windows NT when it first came out. Windows 2000 (basically the next iteration of NT) is probably to date my favorite OS as far as the excitement I felt using it for the first time.
Sami Shamma 
             
14 days ago
No truer words have ever been spoken
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