I posted about "unknowns VS problems" and got lots of comments here. That helps me realize more things that I didn't notice before.
Unknowns don't stay unknown for long, they usually show up as problems after we have already paid for them:
Missed details→ rework
Unclear spec→ changed output
Wrong assumption→ wasted time
It doesn't feel like risk, it just feels like progress. That's a tricky part, I don't realize something was an unknown until it turns into something you now have to fix.
After reading all the replies, one thing stood out to me. That is the goal isn't to eliminate unknowns and it's impossible to eliminate, but to convert them earlier before they become expensive. Will figure out how to do that better in practice, but now I am excited about those unknowns since that will makes me more and more good at handling with them.
We usually pay for unknowns before they become problems
byu/Unable_Fishing_1679 inEntrepreneur
Posted by Unable_Fishing_1679
3 Comments
pls help me understand the point of this post… I must be missing something but this just you thinking out loud and adding nothing useful to the community honestly
That’s a really good way to frame it. It does feel like progress in the moment, and only later you realize it was actually an unknown turning into a problem. Catching that earlier is probably where most of the leverage is.
You’ll never see every unknown coming, that’s just how it is. What helps is writing code you can actually refactor later without crying. I use vibe-coding for prototypes and concepts but everything that hits main goes through senior devs first, way easier to fix clean code than untangle a mess