Thursday, August 7, 2008

Coding Horror: Quantity Always Trumps Quality

Forget the word "coding." The visceral reaction to "quantity trumping quality" is "That can't be! After all, quality is--well--you know, quality and quantity is just a bunch of stuff."

Okay, snappy dialogue aside, We tend to think that quantity is the opposite of quality, that they are incompatible and thus We should, if We take pride in Our work, strive for quality by focusing more on producing less...for higher quality.

But real-world observation and "productivity platitudes" (Ready! Fire! Aim!) tell Us something different: Quantity is almost always a precursor and adjunct to Quality, that "many attempts done consistently" often lead to "better and improving results."

Quantity and quality. Sounds so simple.

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