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Boredom-Driven Development: The Dark Bargain at...

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Boredom-Driven Development: The Dark Bargain at the Heart of Software

Novelty shapes more of our technical decisions than we'll ever admit. We justify our choices and call it resume-driven development but the reality is our own boredom drives us towards complexity and ruin.

We are bored because we have struck a dark bargain with malign forces who keep us trapped in a prison forged of our very desire to code. We are each a digital Prometheus, bound to a treadmill of features and beset daily by eagles carrying KPIs. That torture pushes us to seek relief with novelty - and the technical ecosystem is all too happy to keep providing us with an endless hype cycle to jam into our veins.

The end result: overcomplicated, overwrought, and underthought systems that squander the promise of software and make everyone's lives worse.

Why does boredom make us vulnerable? Why does the treadmill of technologies entice us? Why did our forebears strike the bargain that binds us, and why have we let ourselves remain bound? Why not expand our focus to the whole of an application? Why not find interest in solving problems and making people's lives better?

Let's unwind the past in spite of dwelling in a system that treats us as semi-autonomous code-producing agents. Let's focus our craft on outcomes beyond features shipped and tickets done. Let's bend boredom to our advantage instead of following its siren call. Come along on this cross-cutting, well-illustrated ride through software and psychology, and break the chains that have kept you bound!

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Arthur Doler PRO

May 11, 2026

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  1. @arthurdoler.com @arthurdoler.com Arthur Doler Resources: Boring details about me are

    at https://arthurdoler.com BOREDOM-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT The Dark Bargain at the Heart of Software
  2. @arthurdoler.com “I know this doesn’t look great, but we’ll polish

    it up by next sprint demo!” @arthurdoler.com
  3. @arthurdoler.com BUT YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BE BORED, THAT’S FOR

    SURE. These fish are very disappointed in your professional choices. @arthurdoler.com
  4. @arthurdoler.com As far as I am aware DEC did not

    sell matching ashtrays. Seems like a miss.
  5. @arthurdoler.com This was huge tech. People paid real money for

    this ASCII art. | | * 07 * * *COMPARE* LOW * 3 TO * EQ -------* ACTIVITY *-- | * CODE * | * * | * * | * | HIGH| | | | | | | | * 08 | * * | * * | YES * IS * |------* ACTIVITY * | * CODE 6 * | * * | * * | * | NO| | | | | | | 09 | --------------------- | | CHANGE ACTIVITY | | | CODE TO 8 | | --------------------- V | ---------(*)---| T16 | 10 --------------------- | MOVE ACTIVITY CODE| | TO O/P | --------------------- | |
  6. @arthurdoler.com WE START TO DELINEATE BETWEEN THE PEOPLE DOING THE

    WORK AND THE PEOPLE ORGANIZING THAT WORK It was the style at the time, frankly.
  7. @arthurdoler.com 1. Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on

    a scientific study of the tasks. 2. Scientifically select, train, and develop each employee rather than passively leaving them to train themselves. 3. Provide "Detailed instruction and supervision of each worker in the performance of that worker's discrete task“ 4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks The Principles of Scientific Management, Taylor, 1911
  8. @arthurdoler.com MOST JOBS START TO INVOLVE SOME SORT OF SOFTWARE.

    Thus beginning the era known as The Great Complaint
  9. @arthurdoler.com AND LO, THE BARGAIN IS STRUCK, THE DIE IS

    CAST, WHAT IS DONE ECHOES THROUGH TIME
  10. @arthurdoler.com They shaped and wrought, and light they caught /

    To hide in gems on hilt of sword. @arthurdoler.com
  11. @arthurdoler.com It should never have been in the first place!

    Fight for your ownership of digital goods
  12. @arthurdoler.com If you know what this is you should stretch

    after the talk is done @arthurdoler.com
  13. @arthurdoler.com Frameworks Server-side vs Client-side DevOp / DevSecOps Web3 The

    Metaverse NFTs Excuse me, I need to go dry heave behind the screen
  14. @arthurdoler.com AND IN THE LAST COUPLE YEARS, THE FATE OF

    OUR ENTIRE INDUSTRY HAS BECOME A QUESTION MARK! Anyone who’s certain about the outcome is trying to sell you something.
  15. @arthurdoler.com BUT THIS ISN’T WORKABLE WHEN THE WORK ISN’T ENGAGING!

    The work of enjoying the work stops working when the work isn’t workable!
  16. @arthurdoler.com WE HAVE TO DO THE WORK OF ENSURING THAT

    TECHNICAL SOLUTION MEETS AN ACTUAL HUMAN NEED. This is non-negotiable. The businesspeople will not do this for us.
  17. @arthurdoler.com I’m sorry, but we have to rise to the

    situation we’re in, not the one we want.
  18. @arthurdoler.com WE NEED TO DEVELOP PROFESSIONAL ETHICS. WE NEED TO

    FORM A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION. This is the slide that gets me fired.
  19. @arthurdoler.com I am an Engineer. In my profession, I take

    deep pride. To it, I owe solemn obligations. As an engineer, I pledge to practice integrity and fair dealing, tolerance and respect, and to uphold devotion to the standards and dignity of my profession. I will always be conscious that my skill carries with it the obligation to serve humanity by making the best use of the Earth's precious wealth. As an engineer, I shall participate in none but honest enterprises. When needed, my skill and knowledge shall be given, without reservation, for the public good. In the performance of duty, and in fidelity to my profession, I shall give my utmost. https://order-of-the-engineer.org/about-the-order/obligation/
  20. @arthurdoler.com It doesn’t matter if we produce code faster if

    it’s the wrong code. It doesn’t matter if it’s more reliable if nobody’s going to use it. It doesn’t matter if it felt good to write it if it’s the wrong feature to have written. It doesn’t matter if it was the right feature if it’s being used to accomplish dastardly ends. “dastardly” is a tremendously underused word, imo
  21. @arthurdoler.com THE BORING NATURE OF MOST SOFTWARE DRIVES US TO

    FILL OUR WORK WITH COMPLEXITY TO KEEP OUR JOBS INTERESTING. And there is plenty out there to choose from.
  22. @arthurdoler.com WE FACE THIS PROBLEM BECAUSE OUR ANCESTORS MADE A

    DARK BARGAIN TO GIVE UP CONTROL OF WHAT THEY CODED IN FAVOR OF HOW THEY CODED IT And we continue to choose this every chance we get!
  23. @arthurdoler.com WE JUSTIFY THIS DRIVE TOWARDS OVERCOMPLICATION WITH THE VERDANT

    ECOSYSTEM OF NEW TOOLS AND METHODOLOGIES. Surely they’re not just making these for no reason, right? Right??
  24. @arthurdoler.com WE NEED TO RECLAIM THE WHAT. TO ONCE AGAIN

    BECOME FOCUSED ON VALUE TO THE USER FROM EACH PIECE OF CODE WE PROVIDE. If we don’t do this, our profession is at risk of vanishing.
  25. @arthurdoler.com IF YOU WERE CURIOUS… •178 slides •134 drawn •15

    images •29 text https://twitch.com/arthurdoler 100% by a human, for humans