Fixing Bugs

Finding a bug in your software is often viewed as a threat — an exposed moment in which our infallibilities come to light. But that is rarely how they are presented to us. The person finding the bug is saying: “I thought you might want to be made aware of this, can you help me fix it?”.

The interesting part comes after. When we decide to find the error in our thinking and patch it up. The way in which we approach problems has a profound impact on how we fix them.

If the mentality is one of fear — fear of being exposed, fear of others noticing that what you created isn’t perfect — then inevitably the solution will only sweep the problem under the rug. This is because the goal is only to hide the problem from people experiencing it.

If however, your mentality is: “How can I correct the problem and learn from it?”, then the game has suddenly changed.

Both parties stand to benefit from the growth mentality. Users are guaranteed a sufficient solution to the problem, and thus more streamlined software, and you as a programmer have become more efficient because you are less likely to commit that bug to your code in the first place.

This pattern applies just as equally to any type of thing we make and share with the world, including ourselves.

It’s hard to be the beginner, the fool, the ignorant one. But you will be happier having been enlightened than you would patching a gap in your knowledge out of fear of shame.

Embrace the bug, and grow from it.