Quotes in this post are courtesy of Liam Galvin in his article, Despair-Driven Development: Harnessing Malaise for Effective Software Engineering
Anxiety and depression are at all time high levels this generation, and rather than pointing fingers at causes, Liam Galvin points to a solution: develop more software.
No joke! Liam's outlook, while bleak, is that developing software and achieving the flow state is the only escape from a reality filled with despair for some.
For many despair-driven developers, flow state is the closest thing to peace. It is not joy in the traditional sense but an absence of suffering, a momentary relief from the crushing weight of existence. While the world outside may be collapsing, in the confines of a well-structured function or an elegant algorithm, there is clarity, purpose, and even a strange form of tranquility.
Liam's cheeky "Despair-Driven Development" model champions pragmatism a functionality. He says that this is the model that those with steep requirements and little support fall into, and in some ways, it makes them better at their jobs.
In a despair-driven mindset, there is no time for over-engineering or gold-plating solutions. The key question shifts from “Is this the best way?” to “Will this work well enough to avoid catastrophe?” The result is a stripped-down, functional approach that prioritizes what actually matters over idealized abstractions.
There's something to be taken here, even if you aren't as ruthless as Liam.
A snatched moment in the quiet focus of a well-structured function can provide something resembling peace. And sometimes, that is enough.
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