Minimalism is Scaffolding For You

Refinement of process is often maturation of process. It's something I've observed frequently in the few professions I've been blessed to participate in; the best of the crew often has a very particular set of opinions and tools he uses to move the fastest and be the best. It's in the simple, refined, relaxed pose of the experienced professional that I find a few critical tools that he consistently reuses to handle the vast majority of his problems. They almost never fail him, they are always reliable, they are simply the well worn tools of the professional.

I find often the "disgust" towards maximalism to be a desire for refinement. The minimalist will pick and choose what he perceives as the maximally effective option, and ape the experience of the master by his selection of tools. This is not the same thing. The Minimalist is adhering to a program, a protocol, to project an image of professionalism. The professional simply is professional. There is overlap! But don't mistake one for the other.

Personally, I find experience and pursuit to be a higher refinement of taste than simple reference. How are you supposed to know what works if you only read blogs?

Oh, scooba does recursive donklings, clearly we should migrate our stack!

Gongkling does asymmetric compositions of non-local gloobers, let's rewrite our service with it!

I love exploring ideas and implementations, but new tools don't refine processes. Experience refines process! Knowing how something works, and how you can fundamentally implement the thing, is far and away more valuable than importing a tool.

And if you minimally implement what you perceive as "good" then you build the necessary fundamentals for critique, which is ultimately the stone upon which the professional refines his taste.

That's why I'm learning Dependable C, and why I think you should Build It Yourself.