Bulldozer00's Blog

The biggest threat to success in software development is the Escalation of Unessential Complexity (EUC). Like stress is to humans, EUC is a silent project/product killer lurking in the shadows – ready to pounce. If your team isn’t constantly asking “how can we make this simpler?” as time ticks by and money gets burned, then your project and product will probably get hosed somewhere downstream.

But wait! It’s even worse than you think. Asking “how can we make this simpler?” applies to all levels and areas of a project: requirements, architecture, design, code, tools, and process. Simply applying continuous inquiry to one or two areas might delay armageddon, but you’ll still probably get hosed.

If you dwell in a culture that reveres or is ignorant of EUC, then you most likely won’t ever hear the question “how can we make this simpler?” getting asked.

But no need to fret. All ya gotta do to calm your mind is embrace this Gallism :

In complex systems, malfunction and even total malfunction may not be detectable for long periods, if ever – John Gall