David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH)

I know because the Basecamp I wrote back then is still operating, making millions of dollars in ARR, servicing customers on the initial version that was launched back then.

And it looks like the Rails code, if I squint a little, that I would write today.

So most things don't change.

even in computing, and that's actually a good thing.

We saw with the JavaScript ecosystem what happens when everyone gets just mad about constant churn.

Things don't change that often.

I would say, oh, yes.

And then also, oh, no, in the sense that there are absolutely fundamental things, both about human nature, about institutions, about programming, about business that I've changed my mind on.

And then I've also had experiences that are almost even more interesting where I thought I had changed my mind and I tried it a new way, realized why I had the original opinion in the first place and then gone back to it.

So it happens both ways.

An example of the later part, for example, was managers at 37signals.

For the longest time, I would rail against engineering managers as an unnecessary burden on a small or even medium-sized company.

And at one point, I actually started doubting myself a little bit.

I started thinking like, you know what?

Maybe all programmers do need a one-on-one therapy session every week with their engineering manager to be a whole individual.

So we tried that for a couple of years where we hired some very good engineering managers who did engineering management the way you're supposed to do it, the way it's done all over the place.

And after that, I thought, like, no.

No, I was right.

This was correct.

We should not have had managers.