Cleaning Out the Cruft

I can't remember which book Seth Godin references cruft, but the metaphor is compelling,

Cruft Hall is a building on the campus of Harvard University that housed the Physics Department's radar lab during World War II. As late as the early 1990s, unused technical equipment could be seen stacked in front of the windows of Cruft Hall.

"Cruft" became a term coders use to describe outdated, unnecessary, and useless code that accumulates as new features are added to existing features are modified within the software. It slows down and diminishes the efficiency of the software's function by making it more difficult and time-consuming for the code to execute its purpose.

The thing about cruft is that it happens slowly and over time. You don't notice it from update to update. But at some point, you realize that your computer or device just isn't performing like it used to.

Creeping cruft is an insidious and frustrating problem that needs to be addressed in our lives and work as often, even more often, as in the code of our phones. In fact, our phones and all of their crufty apps are cruft, interfering with our ability to engage and navigate our lives and work.

Can you identify or even recognize the cruft that's slowing you down and diminishing your excellence and effectiveness? It's time to clean up the cruft.

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose

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