Adam Tal
Adam Tal

I'm Adam Tal — trying to do better work. This is my notebook: short notes on building, thinking clearly, and the small habits that keep the work honest. Most pieces run a few paragraphs. Occasionally one runs long.

Engineer · Builder · Writer Writing since 2019 Currently →
§ Now
Apr 2026

What I'm building and where my attention is right now.

  1. Triber.net Connecting people through shared goals, skills, and interests. Find the folks you actually want to build, train, and think alongside. Live · Product
  2. Hacker News Hiring Index Hiring signals distilled from every Who's Hiring thread — what companies are asking for, and how that's changing month to month. Live · Data
Want to talk about either one?  Find me on Twitter or LinkedIn →
§ Writing
2019 — 2019
2019
  1. Jun 10 Choosing a marketing strategy There are 3 considerations that you can use to decide on the best marketing strategy. →
  2. Jun 03 A.B.C. Always Be Creating Creating is an active process. It requires presence of mind. Working through a series of decisions in order to reach a creative goal bene... →
  3. May 28 North star metric Can you identify your company's north star metric? →
  4. May 20 First make the change easy, then make the easy change When I find myself stuck between differing choices I have to make, I’ll refer to this quote. I’ll ask myself “why is the decision difficu... →
  5. May 09 Slow down to speed up As a graduate student I was required to take a course on Operations Research. I decided I would study with someone who seemed to have it ... →
  6. May 08 Time is money, but money is not time The premise behind the saying “Time is money” is opportunity cost. Every moment you spend not working is the missed opportunity to earn m... →
  7. May 07 Work smarter and work harder The phrase “work smarter, not harder” gets tossed around all the time. Unfortunately, the phrase suggests that... →
  8. May 06 How to survive a fast I have a fasting routine that I've stuck with for quite some time. Here are some tips and tricks I've picked up along the way to help me ... →
Full archive →
§ Highlighted note

First make the change easy, then make the easy change

May 20, 2019  ·  1 min read

This quote is from Kent Beck, a software developer and the creator of the extreme programming methodology.

Refactoring code can be a challenge. Software projects tend to grow with time. If left unchecked they can become unruly and hard to reason about. Spaghetti code is a term that’s never too far from such a mess.

In a way, this quote is saying “first do what you should have always been doing; being organized” and “then do what you came here to do in the first place (add a feature, fix a bug).”

Although the context here is software development, the spirit of the quote can be applied elsewhere. When I find myself stuck between differing choices I have to make, I’ll refer to this quote. I’ll ask myself “why is the decision difficult to make?” Inevitably it is because my thoughts are not organized and I am not adequately informed to feel comfortable with any decision.

I then take the time to do the work I should have done. After that, the decision tends to be much easier.

Read full post →  ·  Browse all notes ↑