Writing words vs. writing software Matt 46 comments Latest by lisa

I was reading some quotes the other day about the importance of rewriting…

“First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about.”

-Bernard Malamud



“There is no great writing, only great rewriting.”

-Louis Brandeis



“Books aren’t written - they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.”

-Michael Crichton

…and it occurred to me how much these ideas apply to writing software too.

Grinding it out

Whether we’re authoring software or prose, rewriting is key. Rewriting is when you turn good into great. It’s true for books, blog posts, marketing copy, interfaces, code, etc. For all of them, we grind it out. We get something down, share it, get feedback, revise, and then do it over again. We get where we’re going via lots of wrong turns.

Sometimes we even throw everything away and start over from scratch. Yeah, that can be frustrating. But if you never throw anything away, you’re holding on to your worst ideas.

Writing copy

For a short blurb, we just bang it out and move on. But when we want to do it right (e.g. when writing Getting Real, the Job Board info page, or posts like this), we go through a cycle of tweaking and revising. Here’s how the process works:

Idea.

Write a version.

Get feedback from rest of team. People offer suggestions, post related images, and tell you if something sucks. Sample comment: “Here’s another angle. not sure if it works or not, but I’ll freestyle it…”

Rewrite. We’ll often bring ideas into Writeboard at this stage in order to collaborate on edits.

Go back to step 3, if necessary.

Publish.

Get more feedback, this time from outside audience.

Tweak again, if necessary.

Writing software

It’s actually the same way we create software. There’s a lightbulb moment. Then sketches. An interface is built and passed around (seeing a real screen makes all the difference in the world). Feedback pours in. Revisions are made. (Sometimes entire ideas are scrapped and we go back to the drawing board.) Something gets built. People start using it and make comments. More tweaks. Launch. Listen to outside comments. Repeat the process.

One important part of all this: You can’t fall in love with your baby. You need to realize your work is going to get twisted up and turned inside out. It’s better to get that over with sooner than later. If not, you risk falling head-over-heels for your creation only to have your heart broken later. So share stuff early and often.