GoKawiilWhen Rails-way does not work anymore?
I recently published an article on why I decided to explore an alternative way of writing Rails apps compared to the Rails-way, and what the Rails-way really is when we look at how people and 37signals write applications. In this article, I will discuss bold signs that it's time to let go of writing Rails apps the old way and start exploring alternative paths.
First of all, you can’t say that Rails-way works for some types of apps, like Fintech or E-commerce, and not for others from the beginning. This is the totally wrong angle to look at it. Rails-way is great for all types of apps up to some point.
High-level and organizational signs
You work on a Rails application, the business is growing, so is your application and the team. During the process, you may observe the following situations:
Developers lose their confidence in introducing changes - it’s taking longer from passing PR to code review to the deployment, and the reason is not that your developers have gotten worse over time.
- it’s taking longer from passing PR to code review to the deployment, and the reason is not that your developers have gotten worse over time. The AI adoption among developers is not as rapid as you expected - the benefits are obvious. Still, the developers do not seem to be taking advantage of it, and the pace of introducing new changes has not increased much over the last few months.
- the benefits are obvious. Still, the developers do not seem to be taking advantage of it, and the pace of introducing new changes has not increased much over the last few months. It’s hard to split developers into smaller teams - you would like to manage smaller teams focused on certain aspects of the app, but it’s hard to do the split logically, or teams are getting into code conflicts over and over again.
- you would like to manage smaller teams focused on certain aspects of the app, but it’s hard to do the split logically, or teams are getting into code conflicts over and over again. Onboarding takes weeks, not days - you may have the documentation in place and other people to help, but even senior developers are not able to ship their first PR within the first few days.
- you may have the documentation in place and other people to help, but even senior developers are not able to ship their first PR within the first few days. The business can’t get straight answers - you struggle with explaining to the business how the application and their own rules are working.
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