The clever solution feels good to write.
The boring one feels good to maintain.
Only one of those feelings
you get to keep.
Boring code is predictable.
Anyone can read it.
Anyone can change it.
It fails in ways you can guess.
Clever code is a puzzle
you leave for the next person —
and the next person is usually you,
six months from now,
with no memory of the trick.
Novelty has a cost
and the cost comes due later,
when you've forgotten
why you were so proud.
Save your cleverness
for the problem that actually needs it.
Most don't.
The boring solution isn't a lack of skill.
It's skill that has nothing left to prove.
– Serguey Asael Shinder
