Vibe coding is NOT the answer and it will NEVER be the answer! With over eleven years in the IT space, I say that confidently. When I read about it, I knew it was another trend that will fizzle out at some point. Personally, I feel we should give the inventors of the vibe coding concept a point for effort. I mean that’s ‘e’ for ‘effort’, yes? We can all assume they were trying to help by creating something that will assist us move quickly and become better with our work, in this industry.
If you are building a technology offering, be it software, hardware, service or a combination of all three what you need is methods that are tested and battle ready. What you need is balance between thinking and action. Balance between theory and practical. Ask yourself: What and how are you thinking? And why are you thinking that way? What actions are you taking? How are you taking those actions and why? You do not want to over think or spend your whole time thinking also you do not want to over act or spend your resources moving in the wrong direction and doing the wrong things.
So now, how do you balance thinking and/with action? Where can you find and see this balance? How can you balance theory with practical? Does it even exist? I say, you can find this balance in the (battle ready, tested and trusted) Iterative and Incremental methodology!
This methodology does not neglect the SDLC. It uses it very well!!
Vibe coding is not the answer! Do this instead.
Allow me to give a very simple and brief look into what balance looks like.
THINKING & ACTIONS
THINKING:
- Questions, ask questions! Is this a real/actual/existing problem?
- Is this what I should be doing? ACTIONS:
- Research! Things like: go out and talk to real people (surveys, interviews), focus groups.
- Putting form to ideas. Things like: sketches, POC, Prototype.
- IP Protection. Things like: patents, Copyright!
- Actualising the idea beyond its first/initial form. Things like: MVP, soft launch, early bird access.
- Integrated Marketing. Things like awareness, hype, whatever, PR, Sales.
THEORY & PRACTICALS
THEORY:
- Statements like ‘technology makes work easy and smooth’.
- Statements like ‘build it and they will come’.
PRACTICAL:
- The theoretical statements above might not be entirely true in certain situations. You need some practical evidence to show what needs to be done!
- Don’t build until you are sure people have the problem and will pay for YOUR solution. Talk to real people, do genuine research.
- Practical design decisions such as: o Go completely electronic or have paper trails and paper backups. o Use Bluetooth, internet for communication, data transfer. o What will work here in this use case, in this operational environment? o Should there be offline mode and to what extent?
- Technology in a certain use case/scenario/environment; is it really helping or is it hindering/slowing the work down. In areas such as restaurant management, auto shop management, farmers selling in the market, sending/receiving money in remote areas, making payment in remote areas.
This balancing act will happen as you go through the SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle) using the Iterative and Incremental Methodology. Several iterations (and increments) will occur as you use the SDLC until you are truly ready to face a larger audience and/or market to sell your product/solution.
Critical thinking is crucial. Situational awareness (and analysis) is very key to maintaining balance in a healthy way. With this approach you derive many benefits such as:
- Avoid moving in the wrong direction.
- Avoid building the wrong thing.
- Overcome overthinking/analysis paralysis.
- Gain proper System Design, Design Thinking, Service Design.
- Avoid funds misallocation and mismanagement.
- Proper documentation for actions/activities.
So, in summary:
- Balance NOT vibing!
- Iterative and Incremental methodology.
- Utilise SDLC stages armed with critical thinking and situational awareness.
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