a month ago
- YAGNI (You Aren't Gonna Need It) is not about saving effort from writing code but about the cost of speculative structure built before it is needed.
- Speculative structure incurs two costs: optionality (committing based on guesses limits future flexibility) and NPV (negative present value from paying costs earlier and delaying revenue).
- Even with perfect foresight, these costs remain because optionality is lost and time value of money applies regardless of correctness.
- The rise of AI-generated code makes YAGNI more relevant, not less, as it reduces typing effort but doesn't eliminate the underlying economic costs of premature structure.
- YAGNI is a principle of timing, emphasizing that building too soon is as risky as building too late, and should be applied regardless of coding costs.