Agree with the sentiment here as well that it applies to many "laws" of programming. There are always exceptions, though this one is particularly harmful. I've worked with people who don't consider any optimization until it starts to be a problem, even if something trivial can be done to prevent it (n+1s were an example). As engineers we seem to be constantly searching for a single answer to each common problem but that's just never going to be the case.
Agree with the sentiment here as well that it applies to many "laws" of programming. There are always exceptions, though this one is particularly harmful. I've worked with people who don't consider any optimization until it starts to be a problem, even if something trivial can be done to prevent it (n+1s were an example). As engineers we seem to be constantly searching for a single answer to each common problem but that's just never going to be the case.