How I Build
Each year I tend to buy (at least) two new Lego sets. The first is the annual Lego modular, a three storey building that comprises around 2500 pieces, and the smaller but just as amazing Winter Village Christmas sets. When I have a bit of time off work I tend to build one of the larger modular sets over a week. The sets are usually split into four sections, with each of the sections comprising of many different bags with the same number (i.e. five or six bags all numbered ‘1’) and thus a lot of little pieces of Lego. In general one level is one set of bags.
I could just dump all of that Lego on the floor and then for each step find the pieces I need. Finding the one piece amongst 200+ bits however is a slow, laborious process which takes the fun out of something creative. It is, to me, fairly close to what I guess it must be like to find that proverbial need in the haystack. Not quite as bad but… well, it’s not fun.
So, before I build I like to sort the Lego. This is a slow and somewhat tedious process but, if I don’t do this then building is much slower since I’ve not put in the work upfront to make the next steps easier. So, a little effort up front makes for a more rewarding experience afterwards.
I see this in the same way as I see coding, organisation is everything. You can go ahead and just start to build and, at times that’s fun, it’s ‘doing’ something. For a small simple project, like a small Lego car, you can go ahead and just get it done. But, for a larger project if you don’t take the time to stop and sort out what you need up front, make the time to think about what you want to build and how it’s going to come together or to consider if what you’re doing is fit for purpose… then, often the end result is unlikely to be quite what you need, what the customer expects or what the business expects. When it goes wrong, retrofitting into something that’s broken isn’t fun and in the end takes a lot longer than it would have if the effort to plan and prepare had been put in up front.
So, whilst the act of sorting Lego isn’t particularly fun the output should be something that makes my task less of a task and, ideally, somewhat aesthetically pleasing. You should see pre-planning for a project in the same way. If you do it well and care about what you’re doing, you’ll end up with a complete understanding and a plan that covers every step of the way. So, for Lego what I try to do is to create organisation out of the mess of bricks. If I’m going to organise… I’m going to have fun doing so. To which we have:
So, I wonder if some people will see these pictures and think… OCD. That’s fair. I think that most certainly I do have a degree of OCD but, I like organisation. I like tidy. I like a list. (From this I will sort out piles that cover at least 20 steps before I build even one).
The above, for me is the equivalent of breaking down tasks in coding. I know what I want to do. I know what the end result I want is. But, I need to stop and take the time to think, ‘how’ do I want to do this. How am I going to get the right results, what are the steps I need to take to get there. Taking the time up front to think about this, to break all the work down means I can then do the fun part which is to build freely after.
Equally, like the sorted Lego, your code should be beautiful. It should ‘look’ right to you. Your functions/methods should do what they need and no more, your files should group like pieces (method) together. Your code should be aesthetically pleasing and easy to read. Yes. Easy to read. Code isn’t just or you, in a team, other people should be looking at your work, will need to modify and debug your code. If your code isn’t neat, you’re doing something wrong. Yes. Messy code is poor code. If, however you got this part right… writing tests are a breeze. (That’s something we don’t do when building Lego… :D )
If I’ve done the good work up front to sort it all, then I can put it together and watch it click and connect, transforming from a bunch of different elements into a beautiful finished product, just like an app.
