I'm watching my dog, Wilson, investigate what has to be a snake in our butterfly garden.
He's nosing around and then jumps about 3 feet in the air when the little thing turns and strikes at him. It's happened before, causing me to mutter, "well, dog, what did you expect to happen?"
It reminds me of something I read in Ben Horowitz's book "Hard Things." He reflects on a simple truth for programmers and managers alike: “all decisions were objective until the first line of code was written. After that, all decisions were emotional.”
That applies to anyone making a decision, not just programmers. All decisions become emotional once you start.
To combat that, before you begin, set a metric for success. . .and another for the minimum acceptable standard.
That way, once you get started and get emotionally attached, you can honestly answer the question, "what did we expect to happen?"
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