00:00:17.099
It's been 10 years! Unlike DHH, I can't get up here and tell you I've been doing Rails for ten years. I've been involved with Rails for nine or eight years, or something like that. But Rails has been around for ten years, and it's not surprising that a bunch of people are going to get up here and do a little retrospective. This is sort of my feeling about it. Oh my god, I remember thinking back in 2008 when DHH was giving his talk about a look back at the year when Merb was becoming significant and we were eventually going to merge a little bit later. In 2008, when DHH gave the great Surplus talk, that was a retrospective of a year or two, because we had gotten to the point where Rails was big enough that it could host a competitor. I think it's great that we ended up merging, and we gained another five or six years of a vibrant framework community. But now's another opportunity to reflect on what the Rails community is and how we can take lessons from Rails to apply in other environments.
00:01:21.820
So, today, my talk is about that. I think if you focus on one key thing about Rails, it would be that Rails popularized the idea of convention over configuration. You've been hearing the term 'convention over configuration' for ten years now, and probably it has become somewhat meaningless—similar to reaching semantic saturation with a word you hear repeated over and over again. However, I want to unpack it a little bit. One way to think about it is through another term called the paradox of choice—this idea that people prefer having choices much more than they like having to actually choose. When people enter programming environments, grocery stores, or whatever, they like the idea of having many choices significantly more than they enjoy the act of making those choices.
00:02:30.980
This has been known since 2008 when David gave the great Surplus talk. What I want to do is delve a bit deeper into what's occurring that's causing this concept of the paradox of choice. It turns out that there's been a lot of scientific research since 2008, and even before that, about what triggers the paradox of choice and how convention over configuration proves effective. If you're interested in further information on this, I encourage you to look up 'ego depletion' on Wikipedia. To grasp what's happening, it helps to think about your everyday job and how you feel throughout the day. You wake up in the morning, leave the house, and you're pretty much fully charged, ready to take on the world. Hopefully, it's a sunny day and you skip down the street, fully equipped to tackle anything.
00:03:38.290
You get to your desk, and as you work, your cognitive resources start to deplete. Eventually, something might happen during the day that’s unpleasant, and your cognitive resources diminish even further. At some point during the day, you might feel like you have barely have the capacity to think or accomplish anything, and eventually, you completely run out of cognitive resources. This concept of cognitive depletion or ego depletion suggests that everyone has a certain pool of cognitive resources that eventually gets exhausted. Most people associate this with their jobs, realizing that as the day progresses, their cognitive resources now run low which can be rinsed and repeated daily.
00:05:55.420
What’s interesting about cognitive or ego depletion is that there's actually one big pool of resources that we use for various tasks, which leads to notable findings in studies. For instance, studies conducted in grocery stores revealed that when you are making choices—for example, selecting groceries—your brain uses a significant amount of cognitive energy. When you finish shopping and have to make an impulse decision about candy bars at the checkout, you're likely to give in because you've depleted your cognitive resources simply from making choices earlier in the store. Similarly, experiments show that when a group is tasked with memorizing different sets of numbers, those who memorized more numbers are far more likely to choose unhealthy snacks later.
00:07:40.360
Cognitive depletion means that people are occasionally required to spend many resources making decisions, leading to decreased willpower to make healthy choices as their cognitive resources are exhausted. This phenomenon has been substantiated over numerous studies up to 2014, indicating that the resources we use for challenging cognitive tasks are scarce and can easily run out. Our goal as programmers is to maximize the time spent on tackling challenging tasks, minimizing the cognitive resources allocated towards mundane choices, such as writing code in a specific way. Terms such as 'decision fatigue' and 'cognitive depletion' describe the concept that we have a limited battery of resources, which may get used up when tackling even seemingly simple choices.
00:09:24.500
Thus, how do we solve this problem? Clearly, if you want to focus on challenging problems without the burden of managing willpower, you'll end up making mindless choices. Therefore, finding psychological hacks is crucial so we can efficiently engage in decision-making. A fascinating study regarding organ donation illustrates these principles effectively. In countries where organ donation is an opt-in system—where individuals have to express a desire to donate—the rates are significantly lower compared to systems that are opt-out, where people automatically donate unless they opt out.
00:10:41.180
This difference is intriguing. You would expect that individuals would opt out if they had strong personal reasons against it, like family objection or religious beliefs. However, surprisingly, in opt-out countries, donation rates approach near universality. This stems from the fact that by the time individuals complete lengthy and cognitively demanding DMV forms, they often lack the cognitive energy to consider their organ donation decision, leading to a high rate of defaults in favor of donation. Defaults can be a powerful psychological hack. They keep you aligned with the right path and lessen the chances of making reckless choices when your cognitive resources are low.
00:12:28.720
Defaults tend to work effectively across various circumstances. On good days, they can maintain your focus and resilience, keeping you high in cognitive resources. On bad days, defaults act as a beneficial guiding compass when choices become overwhelming due to mental fatigue. However, it’s essential to recognize that cognitive resources can dwindle faster than anticipated, especially after instances of yack shaving—when you spend hours setting up tools or configurations that feel productive but can drain cognitive energy without sufficient results.
00:13:54.680
Yak shaving, while sometimes necessary, can lead you to underestimate the amount of cognitive resource expended. Thus, be cautious about yak shaving, as it often consumes more cognitive energy than you might expect, leaving little motivation for productive tasks afterward. Likewise, I believe that while many in this room resonate with this unpacking of cognitive resources, external influences sometimes persuade us against such realizations, causing frustration within communities focused on individualism. Many developers may convince themselves they are unique or that their problems require tailored solutions, ignoring collective efforts and shared tools that could enhance productivity.
00:15:52.230
David Frum emphasized that developers need to embrace commonality and acknowledge that we all struggle with similar challenges. We must recognize that believing we are uniquely special can lead many to think they need out-of-the-box solutions for their unique distinction, which is an unproductive mindset. Rather, productivity flourishes through shared collaborations and solving the same collective problems, dispelling the idea that individual uniqueness necessitates bespoke tools.
00:16:59.410
Additionally, phrases like 'the law of leaky abstractions' can perpetuate the notion that shared solutions are inferior. Abstractions, while sometimes flawed, shouldn't deter us from utilizing them. Jeff Atwood observed that most good programming abstractions are indeed failed abstractions, yet we shouldn't abandon abstractions simply because they are imperfect. Instead, modern programmers should work over time to refine these abstractions and build less flawed solutions.
00:17:57.440
Moreover, we must challenge the narrative that shared solutions are faulty just because they've shown some issues. Acknowledging our history as a community means understanding that previous programming interfaces allowed us to build on collective knowledge instead of reiterating the same mistakes. As we explore and develop these abstractions, we should view them as crucial steps toward innovative solutions, not as burdens or barriers.
00:19:12.700
If we collectively adopt productive mindsets that focus on shared solutions, we can elevate our productivity. Embracing the notion that we are not outliers can significantly streamline collaborative coding efforts. The Rails community's success has shown that productivity thrives when developers move beyond personal bespoke solutions. Rather, we must emphasize working together, sharing resources, and fostering environments that value common goals and shared frameworks.
00:20:39.580
In closing, if you find yourself in an ecosystem where developers repeatedly start from square one, learn from the lessons of Rails. Band together to push back against excuses that divide us. Instead, embrace the lessons learned over the last ten years and continue pushing toward collaborative solutions that unify us while enhancing our code efficiency and creativity. The legacy of Rails is not just in its architecture but in proving that unity around shared solutions far outweighs the appeal of individualized approaches. Thank you!
00:21:58.720
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