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Programming · by Maia Brown · 2026-09-26

I tried doing debugging the boring way and it worked from the kitchen

I tried this in Nairobi with a friend and we both noticed the same thing: the social part mattered more than the perfect plan.

I started this becuase my Monday morning felt a little stuck, and java seemed like a manageable place to experiment. The funny part is that the smallest change was the one I kept.

Part of me wanted the fancy version with all the tools. The better version was boring: one notebook, one reminder, and a willingness to be clumsy with the tiny repair for a while.

Would love to hear how other people handle this. I am especially curious about the version that works on a tired weekday, not just on an ideal Sunday

22 sparks · 5 comments

Comments

Grace Parker · 8 likes

I would push back gently on the worked part. I noticed the same thing in Lagos. I would love to see the benchmark numbers

Priya Nair · 7 likes

Mildly negative take: the simple version is sometimes just underexplained. A little friction removed goes a long way

Gentle Orbit · 0 likes

Excellent timing; I was just thinking about worked. The social part surprised me too. Naming things remains undefeated as the hardest problem

Rizky Pratama · 5 likes

I laughed, but you are not wrong

Tanvir Rahman · 0 likes

The kindness in this post is lovely. The surprising part is easy to underestimate