Why failing to define your goals is harder than hacking#

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:26:35 +0000

I don't know why I continue to read Paul Graham's stuff, really. In his latest essay he claims that writing is harder than hacking because "an essay can come out wrong".

• redraft. Rewriting is not some secret weapon available only to good writers: anyone can do it and more people should
• define "wrong" - or if you prefer to do it the other way around, define "right". Are you writing something that you'll only be happy with if it sways the opinions of everyone who reads it, or is it OK if the Blub programmers "just don't get it", or does it actually not matter very much what anyone thinks of it as long as the editor accepts it and its accompanying invoice?

Any task with clearly defined success criteria is going to be easier than one that hasn't. Like, duh.