That time a dev called my component library 'overengineered' and he was right

Honestly, I spent like 3 months building this massive button system with 42 variants and 8 size options. He just said 'dude, we only need primary, secondary, and danger' and I couldn't argue - trimmed it down to 12 variants and the team actually uses it now. Anyone else have a reality check from a dev who kept it simple?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora73511h ago

I mean... I kinda see it the other way. Having those extra options can be useful down the line when you're scaling up and suddenly need a ghost danger variant for some weird edge case. Yeah 42 is way too many but 12 sounds pretty reasonable to me. I've seen teams get stuck later because they trimmed too hard upfront and then had to rebuild stuff from scratch. Maybe it's just me but I'd rather have it and not need it than the other way around...

blaker753h ago

I get where you're coming from about the "have it and not need it" approach. There's a real balance to strike, and I've definitely been burned before by trimming things too aggressively only to have to rebuild them later. Sounds like you've found a middle ground that works for your team.