One Byte at a Time

When we eat, it's important to take small bites we can chew and swallow easily. Otherwise, we risk choking or getting stuck chewing endlessly without being able to swallow. It's a habit we need to cultivate — just like in software development, where breaking down work and making small, frequent changes isn’t just advisable, it’s essential.

I’ve seen very capable developers get stuck on a branch with more changes than they can mentally manage — often due to insecurity or perfectionism.

As a rule of thumb, if a task will take me more than a day of work, I try to break it into iterative sessions that can be merged into the main branch daily. That way, it's easier to regain momentum in each session — and more importantly, it allows other developers to pick up or contribute to what I’ve done so far.

It also makes progress more visible. By setting short-term goals instead of trying to do everything in one go, we can look back at the milestones we’ve passed and get a clearer sense of where we are.

And if — as is often the case — your contribution needs peer review, it’ll be better for both of you: you’ll get feedback sooner, and your teammate will have a manageable amount of changes to review.

“There is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.” -- Desmond Tutu

exit(0);