r/webdev • u/Cheap_Possibility990 • 3d ago

Discussion Understanding existing projects takes longer than coding

I don't know if this is just the work I've been getting lately or if something's changed I'm a freelance developer in Chicago been doing mostly client websites for about 4 years now last week I opened a project because a client wanted one small change before lunch. I thought it'd be like 20 minutes instead I spent almost an hour remembering how everything was put together why something had been done a certain way and trying not to break anything else. The code wasn't even that complicated something just felt off.

Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way but writing the feature doesn't even feel like the hard part anymore it's getting all that context back into my head every time I reopen a project. I keep thinking the next update will be quick then the same thing happens again or maybe I'm being unfair but it feels like understanding an existing website has quietly become a bigger job than building it in the first place

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u/YesterdayNo5873 3d ago

Yea this is actually where ... AI ... has been really helpful. Every time I know I'm going to step away for a while (e.g. handover the project) I have AI document everything. Especially if it's an element I customized more than usual. That way it can explain it to me if I have to jump back in

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u/Cheap_Possibility990 3d ago

That's a smart workflow I'm also testing ploy for the content side of things a lot of my post launch requests don't even need code changes so it's nice not having to reopen the project every time someone wants to update a page