Why Building Like Google Hurts

Everyone's Just Figuring It Out

Bob was working on an AI data visualization app. He has a data science background so he knows how to write script style code to find meaning in large dataset—but he doesn’t know much about building software. His CSV data was all stored on the frontend and was slowing the application down a bit. He wanted it live on the internet to help him find a job.

Carl, a Google Engineer proposed spinning up a backend server to store the data and pointing his frontend to it. Bob had never built an app before in his life. The fact that he had it running on localhost was a miracle. What I instructed him to do instead was split the CSV into a few files to speed up load time and keep everything on the frontend.

Both are valid solutions. Carl’s is more scalable and maintainable. But it’s also slower, and above of Bob’s current skill level.

Here’s The Thing

If that all made no sense to you that’s fine. The point is everyone is at a different stage. So using the right tool for the job isn’t just a one dimensional question. The skill of the person or team implementing the solution has to be taken into account.

Sure, we want to push people to higher heights. But if the stretch is too far it’s never going to get done.

Do you think it’s better to do things right or get things done?