Perfect design

- You know, Afanasy Stepanovich, what is your mistake? He said wearily, closing his eyes. - You believe that the world exists by certain rules, that it has meaning and n-order. And I have long understood: life is nothing more than chaos. There is no order in it at all, and there are no rules either.

Boris Akunin, "The Coronation or The Last of the Novels"

Perfect design

A lot of developers, especially just starting their professional career, earnestly believe that there is such a thing as “Perfect Design”.

So here. It does not exist.

Design and architecture is always a compromise in the struggle, in the attempts of the architect's perfectionism to get beyond the limitations: budget, time, resources. And these restrictions are always there.
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At the dawn of my career (not that it was declining, but all the same, the time passed by IT standards already in order) I myself got into - and more than once - into this trap. The passion to make everything beautiful, expandable and, if possible, forever.

The criterion of completeness, completeness of any business, any thing is beauty. And in the flight business, perhaps like no other, beauty is everywhere. A beautiful flying liner - how many of these shots we saw in the cinema ... But rarely to whom, from outsiders, were lucky enough to get into the cockpit and attend the creation of the Flight.

So: the main thing in my crew is to make it beautiful.

Perhaps the beauty of the Cause is the beauty that will save the world?

- Sit down. Watch it. Learn how to do it.

So you always set up a novice, usually a co-pilot: see how it can be done beautifully. How to sing a song. And - you show with your hands.

Vasily Vasilyevich Ershov, "Thoughts of a riding dog"

Over time, however, it came to the realization that for any software project such limitations are vital. Otherwise, it simply never ends. Yes, even remember your personal projects - I am more than sure that a lot of them acquired the undeserved status of “protracted” precisely because this elusive goal was pursued - Ideal Design .

Design can asymptotically approach the Ideal Design, but, in complete agreement with the laws of mathematics, can never achieve it.

Instead of conclusion

If you have time, then read the three books - " Small Things Considered: There Is No Perfect Design ", " Getting Real " and the already quoted "Thoughts of a Riding Dog".

In the first of them already at the very beginning you will find a confirmation of the thought of the unattainability of Ideal Design, and all the other chapters will be an excursion into a story telling about making decisions and about compromises.

The second, brief and to the point, it will be very useful to adopt in everyday life.

And the third is to read just to understand how much a person can love their work and learn how to do everything beautifully .