Why you should fear your automatic refactoring tool

Okay the title is clickbait. I actually encourage people to not let themselves succumb to fear-driven development. Fear is the mind-killer, stop fearing!

No really. All too often I come across people or comments about being too fearful to change software until they had "some tool" or process. The tool and processes vary, but the fear doesn't. I argue that even with no tool but your brain, you can code fearlessly. This isn't to say that tools don't help, especially when it comes to boosting confidence in correct results. I am saying that the physical sensation of fear that plagues certain programmers is entirely to do with their psyche.

If you're possessed by fear unless you have some particular tool or process, ask yourself, what if I took that tool or process away? And said you can't have it back? What are you going to do? Will you be able to move forward? The art of fearless coding is to change your perspective from an emotional one to a logical one. Instead of being fearful about the effects of some possible change, ask yourself instead how confident you are that this specific change will produce good effects over bad effects. How can you improve your confidence? Maybe you think back to the tools I took away -- what if you don't have those particular tools, how can you improve your confidence?

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