If it hurts ….

… do it more often!

is my favourite short form of the original quote “If it hurts, do it more frequently, and bring the pain forward.” by Jez Humble from the book Continuous Delivery ²

Martin Fowler³ describes the advantages for this approach:

• The decomposition of larger chunks into smaller units reduces the risk. Database refactoring is a case in point. Rather than undertaking a single, comprehensive change, breaking down the process into smaller steps makes it easier to correct and reversible.
• Feedback is another key factor. Feedback from the architecture or through conversations with customers helps us to learn and to correct actions. By increasing the frequency of feedback, we can frequently correct our actions. It is often said that the key to obtaining good surgical outcomes is to select a surgeon who performs the procedure frequently. Once we have gained familiarity with the tasks, we can automate them, which improves both speed and accuracy.
• Last not least Practice is an essential element of any successful process. By repeating a task frequently, one can improve their fluency. It is often said that the key to getting good surgery is to find a surgeon who performs the procedure frequently. Once one is familiar with a task, it can be automated, which improves both speed and accuracy.

The target environment mentioned above is devops, but in my opinion it applies to many other areas of our work life. Think about the last meeting your suffered, but in the end you found it useful? You will experience that the next meetings will be less painful.
Same goes for reviewing reports, bugfixing & testing or difficult 1on1 conversation.

You simply speed up the inspect and adapt process.

Links

² https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/continuous-delivery-reliable/9780321670250/

³https://martinfowler.com/bliki/FrequencyReducesDifficulty.html