The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires. – Seneca
Reflection
More features don't always make an app better.
Sometimes, they make it slower. Sometimes, they make it vulnerable.
Every extra dependency, every helper function, and every layer of abstraction becomes something someone has to understand.
And in a high-pressure moment, that overhead gets expensive.
Some of the worst security failures I've seen didn't come from missing functionality.
They came from complexity nobody needed and code written for what-ifs that never came.
Minimalism isn't about writing less for the sake of it.
It's about making the code stronger by removing what weakens it.
A tight, clean codebase is easier to audit, harder to exploit, and faster to adapt.
It's not flashy. But it holds up.
The Stoics weren't coders.
But they understood clarity.
They knew that reducing what you want is how you get closer to what matters.
The same goes for code.
Today's Insight
If it doesn't serve a purpose, it's a liability.
Strong code solves the problem you set out to solve.
Then it stops.
Action Steps
- Cut What's Dead - If you're not using it, eliminate it. Old code is still attackable code.
- Recheck Your Imports - Look at every dependency. If you're pulling in a library for one function, write it yourself or drop it.
- Simplify the Shape - Break significant components into smaller ones. Keep them focused. Avoid clever abstractions that only you understand.
- Rewrite Until It's Clear - If you need a long explanation comment, rewrite the code. Keep refining it until it speaks clearly on its own.
- Limit Permissions - Restrict access to your APIs, queries, and logic. Every open door is another place to look for bugs.
- Don't Engineer for Ghosts - Solve the problem in front of you. Don't build a system for issues that haven't happened yet.
Consider This
What would you leave out if you had to rewrite your app today?
What's still in the code because no one questioned it?
Good software is like good thinking.
It knows when to stop.