Intro
"Move fast and break things" sounds exciting… until you’re the one cleaning up the mess.
In software engineering, speed can be deceptive. Often, the push to “build fast” leads to unscalable systems, messy architecture, and endless debugging.
Like financial debt, technical debt must be repaid. And unless it's a disposable one-off, building fast without thinking long-term only makes the project slower.
Make It Work → Make It Right → Make It Fast
This mantra has been around for a reason. Here's what it means:
Make it Work
Get the core functionality running. Validate your idea. Don’t over-polish at this stage.Make it Right
Refactor. Clean up. Introduce structure. Follow standards. Think about readability, reusability, and maintainability.Make it Fast
Only optimize after you're sure the code is solid. Premature optimization = unnecessary complexity.
But Reality Isn’t Always Linear
Sometimes, the real-world pressure flips the process:
- MVPs need to ship yesterday.
- Product-market fit takes priority.
- Timelines are tight.
Still, doing things right doesn’t always take longer. Experience teaches you to build smart from the beginning — scalable layout systems, modular code, naming conventions. These don't slow you down, they protect your velocity.
Personal Lesson
At my first job, I rushed to ship a dashboard. I skipped layout planning, ignored consistency, and hardcoded everything.
It worked — barely.
Every minor change required editing 6–7 places. I saved no time. I just delayed the cost.
Conclusion
👉 Build right = build fast in the long run.
Even MVPs benefit from thoughtful design. Don’t trade future progress for present speed.
Have you had moments where "fast" came back to bite you?
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