But it's the concrete knowledge that your prototype just needs polish that makes the "weekend hack" valuable. Given the choice between two developers with proposals, one of whom spent last weekend banging out a prototype but with no plan, and the other with an elaborate plan and documentation but no code, which would you pick?
That's why the "weekend" meme persists. It's not about being "done" (software is never "done" anyway), it's about getting it to a point where "done" has meaning.
The little stuff can always be done. But my fear is that the people who insist on mocking the weekend hackers are the people who refuse to start on the big thing for fear that they'll take too long.
Spikes (in the agile nomenclature) are great fun. You just try to figure out what the shortest point from where you are to minimal functionality is, then get there.
Regarding a HN clone:
Sorting? Just do it by date.
Logins? Just a basic login, perhaps with tons of security vulnerabilities.
Flagging? Later
Comments? Not yet.
Once you have that, which is usually just a weekend job, then you can start to see what's going to be necessary and what isn't and start to see some of the edge cases and features you didn't even know you would need.
That's why the "weekend" meme persists. It's not about being "done" (software is never "done" anyway), it's about getting it to a point where "done" has meaning.
The little stuff can always be done. But my fear is that the people who insist on mocking the weekend hackers are the people who refuse to start on the big thing for fear that they'll take too long.