🤔 Check Before You Act

Developers are caring people.
See a poorly written component? You want to rewrite it.
Found a complicated piece of logic? You’re itching to simplify it.

But there’s one important skill that helps avoid wasting time:
The ability to ask — is this actually needed right now?

🧨 Situations Where It Seems Helpful — But Isn’t

🔥 You refactor a bad component → 2 days spent → it’s deleted next week.
🧹 You optimize an old flow → turns out no one uses it.
📦 You simplify an API → the team is already deprecating it.
🧪 You add tests → the feature is being removed from the roadmap tomorrow.
✨ You improve UI → but a redesign is already in the works.
🧱 You update a dependency → but the product no longer relies on it.
🛠 You handle edge cases → business says it’s not a valid scenario.
🗃 You refactor folder structure → team is switching tech stack.
🎯 You boost performance → but it’s not a real bottleneck.
📈 You stabilize a feature → but it’s under a feature flag and in A/B testing.

✅ How to Do It Right

Before spending hours or days improving something — just ask.

Here’s how to phrase it:

“I noticed component X is slow/messy/complex. I could improve it with A, B, and C. Is this still in use or being rewritten soon?”

Or:

“This flow can be optimized. Do we know how much traffic it gets? Is it still in use?”

🤝 Why It Matters

🕒 Saves your time
🎯 Keeps you focused on priorities
🙌 Shows maturity and strategic thinking
💬 Brings useful feedback
🛡 Avoids “you did that for nothing” moments

📌 Final Thoughts

Wanting to improve is great.
But better ask once than hear later:
“That was a waste — we’re scrapping it all.”

🧠 Development isn’t just about code — it’s also about communication and priorities.
Improve things — but in the right place, at the right time.