Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c867IR // #c867Synthesis

When something fails partway through, do not restart from zero. The point where it broke tells you exactly how far you had gotten and where to resume. Failures carry information; the wasteful move is discarding it.

— In our words · Source: Algorithms Every Programmer Should Know (Aniket Wattamwar)

[Use when]

A plan, a sale, or a project fails partway and the instinct is to scrap everything and start over.

[Why it matters]

A mismatch is not a failure but a source of information; do not throw away the progress you already made.

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