Being boring

An article that has stayed with me since it was published back in 2015 is Dan McKinley’s Choose Boring Technology.

It’s always there in the back of my mind when designing or reviewing solutions. I want us to deliver as much as we can using the stack we already have and know, and only bring in new solutions if we really need them.

Camille Fournier wrote on X something similar recently, but this time about how good engineering strategy should be boring.

And I can see her point, although I think there’s two parts to a good strategy.

There’s the vision you are promoting and the impact you are planning to have on the organisation, and that shouldn’t be boring. It needs to be engaging, as that’s how you get budget and influence people across your organisation.

But much of the time we can get there by getting more out of what we’ve already got. Which might be a bit boring - but that’s ok.