Alright, so I spent some time today diving into this whole “Cody Evans” thing I’d heard bits and pieces about. Not gonna lie, I was mostly curious because a couple of folks I follow online mentioned it, though nobody really explained it clearly. So, I figured, why not give it a shot myself?
My First Steps into the Unknown
First off, I had to actually find out what this “Cody Evans” approach even was. It wasn’t like there was some official website or a big manual. I ended up digging through some old forum threads and a couple of really brief blog posts. Felt like I was on a treasure hunt, and not the fun kind. Most of what I found was pretty vague, talking about a certain way to structure projects or think about workflow, but super high-level.
Eventually, I pieced together enough to get a general idea. It seemed to be about a minimalist setup, focusing on core tools and a very specific, almost rigid, way of organizing files and tasks. My current setup is, let’s say, “organically grown,” which is a nice way of saying it’s a bit of a mess. So, I thought, okay, maybe this Cody Evans discipline is what I need.
Getting My Hands Dirty
I decided to try and apply it to a small side project I’ve been poking at. This project was a perfect candidate because it was already kind of disorganized, so I figured I couldn’t make it much worse. Famous last words, right?
So, I started by trying to re-arrange my folders according to the “Cody Evans” structure I’d sort of deciphered. This meant a lot of renaming and moving files around. It felt weird. Like, really weird. Some of the naming conventions seemed totally arbitrary to me. Why call a folder “auxiliary_constructs” when “helpers” would do? But, I stuck with it, telling myself there must be a reason.
Then came the part about tooling. This approach seemed to advocate for stripping down your tools to the bare essentials. I’m used to my comfy IDE with all its bells and whistles. Switching to a more basic editor and relying more on command-line stuff, as hinted by the “Cody Evans” ethos, was… an adjustment. I spent a good hour just fumbling with commands I hadn’t used in ages.
The “Aha!” Moments and the “Ugh, Why?” Moments
After a few hours of wrestling with it, I did have a couple of small “aha!” moments. The strict file structure, once I got used to it, did make it a tiny bit quicker to locate certain types of files. And using simpler tools did force me to understand what was happening under the hood a bit more, instead of just clicking buttons.
But man, there were also plenty of “ugh, why?” moments. Some of the restrictions just felt like they were there for the sake of being restrictive, not because they genuinely improved anything. I found myself fighting the system more than working with it at times. I kept thinking, “My old way was faster for this specific thing.”
So, What’s the Verdict?
At the end of the day, did this “Cody Evans” practice revolutionize my workflow? Absolutely not. Am I going to switch everything over to this method? Definitely not.
However, it wasn’t a total waste of time. It did make me re-evaluate my own habits, which is always a good thing. I picked up one or two small organizational ideas that I might actually incorporate into my existing setup, kind of a hybrid approach. It also reminded me that sometimes, stripping things back to basics can be a good learning exercise, even if you don’t stick with it long-term.
I guess it’s one of those things that might work brilliantly for some people, especially if they’re starting fresh or have a very particular mindset. For me, it was an interesting experiment, a bit frustrating at times, but I learned a little. And sometimes, that’s all you can ask for when you try something new you just stumbled upon.
