Add daily email for 2024-03-26

Let someone else do the work

source/_daily_emails/2024-03-26.md

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+---
+title: Let someone else do the work
+date: 2024-03-26
+permalink: archive/2024/03/26/let-someone-else-do-the-work
+tags:
+    - software-development
+    - drupal
+    - php
+    - open-source
+cta: ~
+snippet: |
+    Why would I write something myself if there's already code available that solves my problem?
+---
+
+Yesterday, I was investigating a CSS issue.
+
+It's a known issue due to some legacy code in the website's CSS that I'd fixed before but now needed to extend.
+
+Instead of blindly following the same path and extending my previous fix, I decided to rethink the problem and my approach.
+
+I re-read my documentation and re-reviewed potential solutions I'd evaluated previously.
+
+I decided to take a different approach to solving the problem and found an open-source plugin that someone else had written that gave me the functionality I needed instead of writing it from scratch.
+
+I read the code and did a short spike to see if it worked with the existing configuration.
+
+After some experimentation, I got it to work and added it to the project.
+
+## Here's the Thing
+
+The plugin I used was only 34 lines of code, but these are lines I didn't need to write or will need to maintain.
+
+If it works, why would I write it myself?
+
+I'd rather use what someone else has written and contribute if I find a bug or need a new feature.
+
+That's the benefit of open-source software, and why I use Drupal, PHP, Sculpin, Tailwind CSS, Nix, and others.