They Think They Are Doing It Right

This meme perfectly captures the evolution of "epics" in software development with the classic "then vs now" format using the Doge meme. On the left side ("Epics then"), we see a muscular, heroic Doge dressed as a Greek warrior with a lengthy epic poem from Homer's Iliad - representing how epics used to be grand, detailed narratives with elaborate scope and planning. On the right side ("Epics now"), there's just a regular Doge with the simple request "plz add a button" - hilariously showing how modern software development "epics" have been watered down to sometimes include trivial tasks that hardly deserve such an important-sounding classification. This perfectly captures the frustration many developers feel when working with agile methodologies where the term "epic" (meant to represent a large body of work) is often misused for simple feature requests. It's also poking fun at how project management terminology gets diluted over time in real-world practice.

Just like Santa promising dragons, managers promising "productive standups" are selling fantasy. The moment you think they'll finally cut the 45-minute status theater where Dave drones about his JIRA tickets, they hit you with "what color do you want your dragon?" – asking about irrelevant details of a project that'll never see the light of day. The only thing more mythical than dragons is a standup that actually stays standing.

The only programming advice worth taking is the one you'll find on that little strip of wisdom: "IF IT WORKS, DON'T TOUCH IT." Nothing strikes more fear into a developer's heart than having to modify code that's somehow functioning despite violating every principle of software engineering. That magical spaghetti mess held together by duct tape and prayers? Yeah, that's staying exactly as is. The moment you try to "improve" it or "refactor" it, you'll unleash chaos that'll have you explaining to your boss why the entire production system is suddenly speaking Klingon. The unwritten 11th commandment of programming: thou shalt not mess with working code.

The moment you realize your "quick question" has unleashed a coding apocalypse. That senior dev typing for 10+ minutes isn't crafting a simple yes/no – they're writing your obituary in documentation form. Nothing strikes fear into a developer's heart quite like watching those three typing dots continue past the 30-second mark. At that point, you're not getting an answer – you're getting an essay on why your approach is fundamentally flawed, complete with architectural diagrams and references to design patterns you've never heard of. Pro tip: If you see "senior dev is typing..." for more than 2 minutes, start updating your resume.

The ultimate remote work chess match in emoji form! Employee messages HR with just a rain cloud emoji (translation: "I can't come to work, it's pouring outside"). HR immediately counters with the umbrella emoji (translation: "Nice try, but umbrellas exist"). This is basically exception handling in human form. Employee throws a WeatherException, HR catches it and returns a SolutionImplementedException. Checkmate in one move.

Ah, the eternal dance of delusion! The top panel shows a developer having an existential crisis trying to estimate project time—because apparently calculating how long it takes to build something that's never been built before is totally reasonable. Meanwhile, the bottom panel reveals the Project Manager, already promising the client it'll be done by yesterday with a smile that screams "I've just committed us to digital seppuku." The perfect representation of why we all have trust issues and caffeine addictions. The PM's optimism is adorable—like watching someone confidently walk into a glass door while giving a TED talk about spatial awareness.