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Comment by emilprogviz

4 years ago

Wow, thanks, I'm really happy you liked my videos so much! I wonder how many of us have great tool ideas in private notes sitting on our hard drives, not really sharing them with others. I'm glad your ideas overlap with mine, because the more people have the same idea, the more likely it is to be a good one, I think.

> when there are two strong, conflicting views, you do a pros/cons analysis on both

Yeah, it's not easy... I've participated in endless, looping debates as much as anyone - I guess it's just human psychology. But with enough conscious effort, I find that it's sometimes possible to take a step back, take a fair look at both sides, and design a best-of-both-worlds solution. I'll apply this method again in future videos, and if I can inspire a few more people to use it, that's great. Making the programming world a tiny bit less "tribal" and a bit more constructive.

> I've sent you an e-mail a while ago

Yeah, let's continue our discussion over email. I replied to your email from my private address, let me know if it got through.

> That's a first-class contribution. I think you should post the link to your site as a HN submission

"First-class contribution" gave me tears of joy :) I'd like to "Show HN" in a few months. Once I post there, I might get a lot of comments, and I want to be available to answer the comments and make follow-up videos quickly, but currently my personal life is too busy.

> I wonder how many of us have great tool ideas in private notes sitting on our hard drives, not really sharing them with others.

From talking to others, as well as spending way too much time on HN, I think the answer is, "quite a lot". Perhaps not relative to the number of programmers, but in absolute terms, I'm pretty sure there's a hundred strong ideas to be found among just the people who comment here.

I do feel that our industry has an implicit bias against those ideas - I think it's a combination of, if you complain you get labeled as whiny, and working on speculative tooling is considered time spent not providing business value.

> let me know if it got through.

Yeah, I got it, thanks! I'm desperately trying to trim down my draft reply, because I somehow managed to write a short article when describing two of my most recent ideas :).

> I'd like to "Show HN" in a few months.

Sure, take your time :). But I think people will love what you're already have. It's not just the ideas you're presenting, but also a kind of "impression of quality" your videos give.