Working on software that’s been around for decades is interesting. With AI super-charging your ability to execute random ideas, it’s tempting to believe that large platforms should be moving faster and shipping features daily. The truth is, when your software is run, extended, modified, and personalized on millions of live websites, you still have to be cautious.
That caution can sometimes feel frustrating. You start to feel like your work is just routine maintenance, not building the new and shiny. Small iterations take more time, because you have to triple-check everything before you ship.
That quality and care, however, is what makes good software great. It’s why something lasts. Meanwhile 90% of the stuff I’ve vibe-coded is sitting on GitHub, gathering dust.
I was chatting about this feeling with a co-worker when this tweet hit my timeline:
Maintenance isn’t glamorous, but it’s hard, essential work that doesn’t disappear because of AI.
For some projects, like small websites and landing pages, we’re absolutely going to see more vibe-coding taking market share from WordPress. For something as complicated as publishing or e-commerce, I’m not so sure.
I resonated with this article from MacSparky arguing that what most users want from their platforms is more stability.
Pick one big thing. Do it really well. Spend the other eleven months making the thousand small things people actually touch every day feel solid.
New features are great for marketing, but there should be a balance. You can’t ignore the paper cuts that accumulate over time. Your users certainly won’t.
At Woo, we’re spending this quarter in maintenance-mode, focusing on cleaning up our GitHub backlog. You can read more about this foundational work on our blog.
Tomorrow at 10am PDT I’ll be hanging out with the WP Minute community to talk about what’s been happening at Woo, from the foundational work to where we think the future is taking us. Come and hang out!
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