title: What vs. how
lang: en

> His enthusiasm for changing the world is replaced with nit-picking the development process.
>
> Worse of all, though, his concern that “We aren’t building the right thing” will be replaced with “We aren’t building the thing right.”
>
> He’s learned to not give input on *what* is built, so he becomes obsessed with *how* it’s built.
>
> Your culture, for him, has become survival of the fittest.
> 
> <cite>*[Why your programmers just want to code](https://hackernoon.com/why-your-programmers-just-want-to-code-36da9973388e)* ([cache](/david/cache/f02b107083c1dc185463f026691b4d5a/))</cite>

Related to yesterday’s note on [complex vs. complicated](/david/stream/2018/03/11/), focusing on the *how* might be an auto-defensive attitude toward an uncontrollable environment. Complicated code as a fallback to complex relations, something you can build upon without the versatility of humanities.

*Between the two? JavaScript :p*