Chesterton's Fence

A fence is a man made object that takes cost and effort to construct. They tend to be placed with some forethought as to what they are building a barrier from or to. To remove the fence without understanding why it’s there can have unintended consequences.

See also:

  • Past Experience Is a Repetoire Not a Playbook

    There’s a tendency for new people joining a company to immediately draw from their past and implement the things they’ve seen succeed but there is danger in treating experience as a playbook. It can be introduce prematurely and become too much process at the wrong time. It might not match the context of the new environment and cause more problems.

  • When I First Started Programming

    When I first started programming, I thought everyone else was better than me at coding. I read about something new and thought I should do that too because they must know better.

  • The Grug Brained Developer

    The grug brained developer is the counterpoint of the big brained developer.