QuoteProject
I think a lot of great software has been written by people who are scratching a short-term itch, something which has been niggling them for ages, but in the back of their mind they’ve got a wonderful long-term plan.
Tim Berners-Lee
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Great software often originates from addressing immediate problems while having a broader vision for the future.

Tim Berners-Lee highlights that many successful software developments stem from individuals who are initially motivated by a pressing issue they want to resolve. Yet, behind that immediate need lies a deeper, long-term ambition that drives the continued evolution and purpose of the software.

Themes

SoftwareInnovationProblemsVisionLong-Term

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a tech conference to inspire developers facing challenges in their projects.

More from Tim Berners-Lee

The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.
Tim Berners-LeeRead
[The internet] ought to be like clay, rather than a sculpture that you observe from a distance.
Tim Berners-LeeRead
The people who designed the tools that make the Net run had their own ideas for the future.
Tim Berners-LeeRead
Technology innovation is starting to explode and having open-source material out there really helps this explosion. You get students and researchers involved and you get people coming through and building start ups based on open source products.
Tim Berners-LeeRead
One way to think about the magnitude of the changes to come is to think about how you went about your business before powerful Web search engines. You probably wouldn't have imagined that a world of answers would be available to you in under a second. The next set of advances will have an different effect, but similar in magnitude.
Tim Berners-LeeRead
Software companies should take more responsibility for security holes, especially in browsers and e-mail clients. There are some straightforward things the industry should be doing right now to fix things, and I don't know why they haven't been done yet.
Tim Berners-LeeRead

Similar quotes

The EU can lead the world toward more humane technology. But doing so requires thinking more broadly about reining in social media platforms to prevent them from degrading our democracies.
Tristan HarrisRead
Any new technology, if it's used by evil people, bad things can happen. But that's more a question of the politics of the technology.
Geoffrey HintonRead
Just as Josef K, the protagonist of Kafka's 'The Trial,' awoke one day to discover that he had become part of some unfathomable legal carnival, we, too are frequently waking to discover that the rules of the digital game have once again profoundly changed.
Evgeny MorozovRead
The virtual world is a 'public square' much more vast than Tiananmen Square. And you can't send in the tanks to crush the netizens.
Jared CohenRead
Techno-humanism aims to amplify the power of humans, creating cyborgs and connecting humans to computers, but it still sees human interests and desires as the highest authority in the universe.
Yuval Noah HarariRead
I would play games long enough to discover what games were doing and how they were doing it. And then I'd spend the rest of my time building.
Tim SweeneyRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.