<h1>Code Ages Like Milk</h1>
<img src="/images/front_range.webp" alt="The Front Range in the summer is hard to beat">
<p>A bold title, no? But it’s true, and it’s something that I (and most other maintainers) have to deal with on a regular basis. Failing to account for this reality can slow down development and dissuade contributors from sticking around.</p>
<p>As the chief maintainer of Harper, one of my main jobs is to act as quality control. I receive <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/harper/pulse/monthly">a number of PRs each week</a>, both from new contributors and old. Given the diverse pool of contributors, it makes sense that I review a diverse pool of code of varying levels of quality.</p>
<p>When I have my head down on technical and attention-intense projects, I have less time to review code. When I have less time, I need to set priorities. The question becomes: Would I rather let code from high-quality, reliable sources pile up, or code from sources of unknown quality?</p>
<p>I usually end up reviewing the high-quality sources first, since they’ll likely require fewer revisions. Fewer revisions means quicker merge means improving the user experience faster. Whether or not this is a good decision is something I’ve been thinking about all week.</p>
<h2>Code Ages</h2>
<p>As code sits stagnant in a PR, it ages. You might say I’m crazy, that there is no way the code itself changes as it sits still in an unmerged and unmodified PR. I’d say you’re right, except for one teeny-tiny detail: Code only has meaning when it sits within a broader context. If that broader context changes (for example, when other PRs are merged) the meaning of the unmodified code does too.</p>
<p>Let me put it another way. If the patch from a PR remains stagnant, but the code it gets patched onto changes, the actual impact of the patch does too. This can cause all sorts of problems, from merge conflicts to erroneous test failures.</p>
<p>The longer code sits in a PR, the more time it usually ends up taking me to get it merged (when I finally have the time to get to it), just from the merge conflicts alone. It’s the Lindy effect rearing its ugly head once more.</p>
<h2>Features Age Too</h2>
<p>Not only does code age when left untouched and unused, so do the features they represent. If a user requests for a button that marks some text as bold and they don’t receive that feature promptly, they’ll find an alternative solution, possibly from a competitor.</p>
<p>The rest of the app can evolve too. If you’re an individual contributor, it’s in your best interest for your code to make it to master. If that doesn’t happen quickly enough, another contributor (or, if the software is extensible, like Obsidian or WordPress) or plugin author might beat you to the punch.</p>
<h2>What Can I Do About It?</h2>
<p>I believe the way I’ve been handling this until now has been entirely wrong. I should be allocating more of my time to training new contributors and fielding PRs from established ones. Open sources is a team effort.</p>
<p>As for you, dear reader, that’s for you to figure out. The worst way code can age is if it stays in your head. Don’t let your ideas go to waste. <a href="./never_wait">Open that PR</a>, or remind your reviewer to take another look if you haven’t already.</p>

Failing to account for this reality can slow down development and dissuade contributors from sticking around.

<p>Failing to account for this reality can slow down development and dissuade contributors from sticking around.</p>

Code Ages like Milk

<h1>Why I Talk to Myself</h1>
<img src="/images/bike_sidewalk.webp" alt="My bike broke down. Luckily, I had my camera">
<p>Each week I sit down and reflect on what I've learned. I think about which of my efforts have helped the Harper endeavor, and which have harmed it. It's not easy, but I think it's one of the best habits I've built. More accurately, it's one of the best habits <a href="https://ma.tt">Matt</a> has encouraged me to build.</p>
<p>When I really think about it, I'm reminded of the original <a href="https://blog.afterthedeadline.com/">After the Deadline blog</a>, which coincidentally also had a category called "Talking to Myself". I wonder if Raphael Mudge (AtD's author) had a similar motivation.</p>
<p>I talk to myself to find the weaknesses in Harper's mission and focus my attention on what matters. It is an efficient way to get from <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/05/sharing-levels/">layer one to layer five</a>. It can help get other maintainers on the same page and build a body of knowledge that can be linked to from anywhere.</p>
<p>Not worrying about keeping information locked-down is one of the more beautiful parts of working in public. Open source code would be nothing without similarly open source knowledge. I talk to myself <em>online</em> so my users can understand my intentions.</p>
<p>In many senses, we are not unlike moths. We are drawn to the lights of distraction, hype, and procrastination. For me, setting up checkpoints to stop and reflect has been an effective deterrent from these lights. In fact, I think each minute for which I stop and think has paid itself back three times over in time savings. If I can better allocate my time and energy, I can avoid doing redundant work pursuing pointless goals.</p>
<h2>Bonus Points</h2>
<p>A <a href="./markov_chains_are_the_original_language_models">few</a> of my <a href="./local-first_software_is_easier_to_scale">articles</a> have become popular on sites like Hacker News and Reddit. We've gotten quite a few Harper installations from links on these articles. I would never rely on this kind of blogging as a source of advertising, but it is nice to see it help spread the word.</p>

It's not easy, but I think it's one of the best habits I've ever built.

<p>It's not easy, but I think it's one of the best habits I've ever built.</p>

Why I Talk to Myself

It didn't work for me, and if you reading this, it probably won't work for you either.

<p>It didn't work for me, and if you reading this, it probably won't work for you either.</p>

Do Not Type Your Notes

<h1>Harper Desktop Is Available for Download</h1>
<p>Harper Desktop is finally available for download.
It's been about a month since <a href="https://jason.blog/">Jason</a> and I <a href="./building_a_harper_desktop_app">started work on it</a> for Radical Speed Month.
In that time, we have worked hard to create a meaningfully functional experience and it is available for download today.</p>
<p>That said, it's still early work.
There are bound to be bugs and edge-cases we have not considered.
That's why we are releasing it under a "beta" flag.
It's available, but do not expect a super polished experience yet.
The hope is that we can work with the community to build a super polished and comfortable experience, but that will take time and, more importantly, <strong>bug reports</strong>.</p>
<p>Alongside support for apps like Slack and Discord, Harper Desktop will bring our phenomenal grammar checking to critical apps for long-form authors, like <a href="https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview">Scrivener</a> and Microsoft Word.</p>
<h2>What's Next</h2>
<p>I plan to enter a period of hardening, both for Harper Desktop and for everything else we offer.
There's a backlog of bug reports and pull requests from the duration of Radical Speed Month that needs to be addressed.
If you are one of the many people who opened one of those things over the last month, know that I am not ignoring you.
Give me a second to catch my breath, and I will get to you.</p>
<p>After that, I hope to work on more advanced style suggestions, potentially using the greater computing power available in the Harper Desktop app.
More details to come.</p>
<h2>What I Have Learned</h2>
<p>Building Harper Desktop has given me a better understanding of what an effective team looks like.
Not just what an effective team does or says or what methodology they employ.
What they <strong>look</strong> like.</p>
<p>Harper Desktop was collaboration between Jason and myself.
He has far more experience working in teams than I do.
The chance to observe the kinds of questions he asks and understand why he asks them was incredibly valuable, and he carries a finely tuned feeling of prioritization that is difficult to convey over text.
He is a man that knows what is important, and what is not.
I learned a lot from working alongside Jason.
I expect to learn more from him in the future.</p>
<p>With this experience, I intend to make some significant improvements to how Harper as an open source community operates.
You should expect to see me become more available, more of the time.
After all, <a href="./we_are_in_this_together">we are in this together</a></p>

Harper Desktop is finally available for install.

<p>Harper Desktop is finally available for install.</p>

Elijah Potter

Harper Desktop Is Available for Download

What's Next

What I Have Learned

Comments

Other Stuff

Code Ages like Milk

Why I Talk to Myself

Do Not Type Your Notes