@deborahh Very. Devs usually don't update dependencies until they need a particular new feature or bugfix, probably because dependencies are always threatening to break your code and it's scary to change anything about them. (That's my favorite working definition in this context, BTW: "dependency" = anything that's not your code that can break your code.)

So the XP-inspired courage challenge here is stop averting our gaze from that fear and start applying our forebrains and our programming skills to address each factor that contributes to our fear. When we've done that, then we can instead feel eager to update dependencies the moment we see them, knowing that we'll find out quickly and safely if they introduce a problem, instead of slowly and dangerously.

If I have a book in me, it's about managing software dependencies. 🙂

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/110707232608319784