Ask HN: Opposite of not invented here?

38 points

10 years ago

I am familiar with the [not invented here syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_invented_here) because I get to see it at play quite often. It is my nature to understand an environment before I start making changes but sometimes this analysis phase goes on too long. Here are the reasons I can think of to explain my reluctance to start coding:

- I don't want to add more technical debt on top of existing technical debt

- I am not keen to maintain code and have to answer questions from every Tom, Dick and Harry

- I think there is a smarter solution so I spend time writing half solutions then stopping halfway after realizing my solution will have shortcomings

Does anyone regularly go through these motions, if yes how do you overcome them? I realize there probably different ways to describe these emotions including procrastination, fear of failure but I genuinely love simple elegant solutions and when I feel there too making weak points in a system I get reluctant to jump in.

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