The Lawn Mower's Guide to Software Development

Yesterday I was mowing my lawn and couldn't help but think about software development. Weird connection right? But stick with me here.

My lawn isn't huge, it takes about an hour to mow. Like any good project, it starts as a literal greenfield: fresh, well-watered, and looking pretty perfect.

But with that lawn comes maintenance. Maintaining a lawn isn't just about running the mower every few weeks and calling it a day. You've got weeds sprouting between the grass, bugs (the literal kind this time), and other little issues that can slowly ruin everything.

So, what do I do? I try to keep up with it. I mow regularly, fertilize, and even pull weeds. But let's be honest, I'm not perfect. I get lazy. I skip a week here and there. And before I know it, the lawn is looking a bit... rough.

Now, here's where the software development analogy kicks in.

My routine? I always start by walking the lawn to pull weeds before I even touch the mower. But here's my confession: I get about 75% through the weed-pulling and... I quit. I'm over it. Time to just mow and be done, right?

Wrong.

Sure, the mower cuts the tops of those weeds, but guess what's still there? The roots. Hidden underground, growing stronger, spreading deeper. What starts as innocent little green stuff eventually becomes a full-blown invasion that chokes out the good grass.

Before you know it, your once-pristine lawn looks like a botanical disaster zone.

I see you thinking there, what does that have anything to do with software development?!?

Building software takes massive time and energy (= money). And hitting "deploy to production" isn't the finish line, it's actually just the starting gun for maintenance mode.

Frameworks become outdated. Infrastructure shifts. Security patches pile up. And those little bugs? They're like weeds, ignore them long enough and they multiply, spread, and eventually strangle your clean code.

Just like my half-hearted weed-pulling, cutting corners on tech debt might make things look fine on the surface (hello, shiny frontend). But underneath in the backend? It's not pretty. And eventually, that mess bubbles up and ruins the whole user experience.

The takeaway? Whether you're maintaining code or grass, deal with the root problems early and consistently. Your future self will thank you, and so will your lawn.