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Ask HN: Do you try to understand the root cause for already solved problems?
1 point by 2rsf on Sept 24, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments
I just solved an authentication issue between Git and Jenkins using a lot of trial and error, semi random advice from SO and rolling back some code. It works now but I still don't fully understand why it works.

This is not uncommon in devops and test, but happened to me more than once in embedded code and even in other places. Sometimes I spend some official or private time investigating it, sometimes I put it into a backlog and in some cases I don't even bother due to lack of time.

How much time, if any, do you spend investigating something that is already working? Will you loose sleep over it?



Depends how much else is on your plate.

In a case like that you can document everything you know and hope you have more insight when the problem comes back.


It's a no-brainer. Your solution worked under very specific circumstances, but what if those change? It's better to find out why it worked, so you can adjust it later.

Would I lose sleep over it? No. Nothing is worth that in IT. It's just a machine, and it's just a job.




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