I was lucky as Ricardo SIGNES was also awake who explained that actually he has stopped using Module::Starter as he is writing Dist::Zilla that provides much better project management capabilities. I pointed him at my blog entry and after reading it he asked me if I know the expression yak shaving [= performing a task which is required by a different task which is required by… to achieve what one wants in the first place]. I've heard it, actually I even read about it in in The Productive Programmer I mentioned earlier in The Quest for the Perfect Editor but I did not really understand it.
Actually, I think I understood it back when I read the book but promptly forgotten it as I did not have any way to connect the expression to the actions or lack of actions.
I was so lucky to find Ricardo there, as he explained:
- I need to fix this bug, but first I better eat something so I don’t get tired.
- So I'm going to have some cereal, but I'm out of milk.
- So I'll go get some milk. But I heard that yak milk is the best, so I'll go out to Nepal to find a yak.
- But they're all so hairy, I can't get to their udders.
- So, first I'll just shave the yak.
This is just the way you have to teach. Now I can remember it much more easily.
| Author | Gabor Szabo |
| Work | “Yak Shaving” Blog Post |
| Published | 2014-02-06 |