Camille Fournier
Rewrites Are a Trap
Inspired by Camille Fournier episode
Camille Fournier's 'rewrites are a trap' lesson applies to parenting: starting from scratch rarely works better than fixing what you have.
Camille Fournier has seen it dozens of times. A team inherits messy legacy code, hates it, wants to rewrite everything from scratch. She always says no. Rewrites fail more often than they succeed.
Your bedtime routine takes ninety minutes and involves negotiations at every turn. Someone's always crying at the end, honestly not always the kid. The thought arrives: throw it all out, start fresh, be the parent you were meant to be. New rules. Pajamas at 7:15 sharp. Beautiful, efficient.
Except you forgot about the bathroom light on but not TOO on, how Tuesdays are different because of that thing in 2023, and the blanket can't touch their feet but also must cover their feet.
The old routine is a frankensteinian monument to edge cases you'll only remember after you've burned everything down. Better to fix the biggest pain point, test it for three nights, then the next one.
Unsexy. Gradual. Won't make a good Instagram post. But you won't be debugging towel screams at midnight.
