The pull request was perfect.
Or so I thought.
I’d spent the whole weekend refactoring a service in Python.
It was cleaner, faster, more modular — the kind of code that makes you feel like you’ve leveled up.
Then Monday came.
A teammate left a single comment:
“Hey, did we ever talk to the API team about this endpoint change?”
We hadn’t.
And in that moment, all my “perfect” code was instantly broken.
When I Learned the Hard Way
That day taught me something I wish I’d learned earlier:
The best code I’ve ever written didn’t start in an IDE.
It started in a conversation.
Not a stand-up update.
Not a Jira ticket.
A real conversation — asking questions, pushing back, exploring what the problem actually was before touching a single line.
Why We Skip the Talk
Developers love to build.
The sooner we can git init, the better.
We convince ourselves that the code will “speak for itself.”
But code can’t ask clarifying questions.
It can’t flag hidden dependencies.
It can’t tell you that the problem you’re solving isn’t actually the problem.
Only people can do that.
My Shift in Workflow
Now, before I touch a repo, I do three things:
Map the problem
I drop the project brief or Slack conversation into Crompt AI and run it through the Document Summarizer.
It pulls the signal out of the noise so I can see the real requirements.Sequence the work
Using the Task Prioritizer, I make sure I’m working on dependencies in the right order — no more rewriting half a module because I started in the wrong place.Stress-test the approach
Sometimes I’ll explain my plan to a teammate.
Sometimes I’ll explain it to the AI Debate Bot just to see how it pokes holes in my logic.
The Power of Talking It Through
I used to think talking was “slowing me down.”
Now I know it’s a shortcut.
In one project, a 15-minute conversation with our front-end lead saved me from building a backend endpoint that nobody needed.
In another, a quick chat with a designer revealed that half the logic I was planning could be handled in CSS.
Every time I talk before I code, the end result is:
Fewer rewrites.
Simpler commits.
Cleaner pull requests.
It’s Not Just Human Conversations
I’ve also learned that tools can be part of the “conversation.”
When I use Crompt’s Excel Analyzer to interpret messy CSVs before I even start writing a script, it’s like having a data analyst on hand.
When I brainstorm with the Content Writer for technical documentation, I spot gaps before they become blockers.
The key isn’t who or what you’re talking to.
It’s that you’re not coding in a vacuum.
The Cultural Shift in Dev Teams
In high-performing dev teams, code is never the first artifact.
Conversation is.
Architecture diagrams, whiteboard sketches, back-and-forths in Slack — they all happen before the first commit.
It’s not just “agile process.”
It’s the recognition that software is built by humans solving human problems, even if the solution is in JavaScript or Go.
For the Lone Wolves
Even if you’re a solo dev, you’re not exempt.
Your “conversation” might be with your past self (via old notes), your future self (via clear comments), or with a tool that forces you to explain the logic out loud.
I’ve caught more bugs by explaining a function to someone (or something) than by staring at it in silence for hours.
It’s the same reason rubber duck debugging works — clarity comes from articulation.
The Day That Changed My Commit Habit
I fixed the broken endpoint that Monday.
But I also fixed something bigger: the way I start projects.
Now, I treat conversation as a form of coding.
Not a warm-up.
Not a distraction.
Part of the work.
Lingering thought:
Code starts with logic, but great code starts with understanding — and understanding starts with a conversation.
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