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Hofstadter’s Law

What is Hofstadter's Law quote explanation: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you account for Hofstadter’s Law.”
What is Hofstadter's Law quote explanation: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you account for Hofstadter’s Law.”

Hofstadter's Law is “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you account for Hofstadter’s Law.”

Hofstadter's Law is one of my favourites, and I share it time and time again.

We are bad at estimating. We don't allow for the unexpected. We don't know the unknown unknowns. We are overly optimistic. We suffer from recency bias. Generally, we struggle with big, complex things.

In the law's recursion, it's a little like this guidance from Clean Code:

“The first rule of functions is that they should be small. The second rule of functions is that they should be smaller than that.”—Clean Code

Or omit unnecessary words from Steve Krug

Given how easy it is for us to underestimate how long things will take, be kind to each other.

Also see:

From:

From Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (1979)

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