style: aggressivly kill darlings

Author: MyNameIsTrez

_posts/2026-05-22-slow-is-smooth-smooth-is-fast.md

@@ -4,12 +4,10 @@ title: "slow is smooth, smooth is fast"
 date: 2026-05-21 12:00:00 +0100
 ---
 
-[Slow is smooth, smooth is fast](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slow_is_smooth,_smooth_is_fast) is a neat phrase, but the reason it's true is rarely spelled out.
+[Slow is smooth, smooth is fast](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slow_is_smooth,_smooth_is_fast) is a neat phrase, but it is usually explained backwards. People say: go slow, avoid mistakes, save time overall. That is true but it misses where the urge to rush actually comes from.
 
-A lot of low quality code gets written when programmers rush themselves, and the rush is mostly self-imposed, driven by a kind of hidden embarrassment at spending longer than expected on something. In a decade of reading programming blogs and watching programming videos, I've *never* seen this named. Everyone talks about external pressure: deadlines, sprint velocity, manager expectations. The internal pressure gets ignored.
+A lot of low quality code gets written when programmers rush themselves. The rush is mostly self-imposed, driven by embarrassment at spending longer than expected on something. Everyone talks about external pressure: deadlines, sprint velocity, manager expectations. The internal pressure gets ignored.
 
-That embarrassment is not about the work taking long; it is about feeling like the time reflects on you rather than on the problem. You imagine a faster version of yourself who would have finished by now.
+That embarrassment is not about the work taking long; it is about feeling like the time reflects on you rather than on the problem. You imagine a faster version of yourself who would have finished by now. Time estimates make this worse, reinforcing the idea that how long you spend is a measure of your ability rather than a fact about the problem's difficulty.
 
-You may see a colleague close tickets quickly and assume that speed is what competence looks like, so you start optimising for looking fast rather than for craft. Time estimates make this worse, reinforcing the idea that how long you spend on something is a measure of your ability rather than a fact about the problem's difficulty.
-
-So when you next feel yourself rushing, ask whether the deadline is real or self-imposed. If it is self-imposed, the imagined faster version of yourself is not a standard to meet; it is a distraction from the work. Put it down and go back to the problem.
+So when you next feel yourself rushing, ask whether the deadline is real or self-imposed. If it is self-imposed, put it down and go back to the problem.