[082349872349872]

Note that the flowchart given (with its explicit instructions for beginners to back off —hopefully exponentially— upon discovering one has bitten off more than one can chew) may be applicable even for non-beginner programmers:

Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle: You've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve. — Alan Perlis.

[zelphirkalt]

To me the quote seems not to talk about backing off, but about working hard to get through.

[082349872349872]

True, as the quote wasn't aimed at beginners. Keeping in mind that I was running the opposite implication (that the same flowchart for beginners is still suitable for experts), the mapping remains, although we (pace the XKCD!) probably ought to make explicit what that improvement might be:

Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve [your ability to identify what subset/spike of the project could be successful].