Originally posted on LinkedIn
Bikeshedding… or how to stop getting stuck on nonsense 🫢
In software, it happens ALL THE TIME. But it happens in every industry and every job.
In engineering — should we use architecture X or Y? Library A or B (they do the same thing)? 4 spaces, 2 spaces, or tabs for indentation? Stupidity.
And we spend days, weeks, even months on that stuff. Jesus R. and I spent 2 years arguing about which type of DB to use (both would have worked). We all fall into this trap at some point.
It happens everywhere else too. Which CRM to use (between 2 top options that do the same thing). Whether to post at 11AM or 10AM on LinkedIn. Whether to put the button here or 3 pixels to the left.
Alejandra Durban Brizio posted about spending forever fighting over the height of a table 😅 Was the difference between 65 and 85cm really that meaningful?
Sorry if the perfectionists in the room are feeling attacked 🙈 — you’re the ones who fall into bikeshedding the most.
You have to stop overthinking and close these things fast. If you can’t agree in 10 minutes but you can agree it’s a small decision — flip a coin. If there are more than 2 of you, vote!
Just get back to what matters. When have you gotten stuck on something that really didn’t matter?