Design like you'll be there in 10 years

I probably blogged about this a long time ago. I remember watching the
news conference for the landing of the Mars Spirit rover. I had watched
the landing live over the web and remember the jubilation of the team
members as they received the first signal alerting to the safe landing.
At the news conference one of the project managers mentioned he had
been working on the project for 10 years (through one previous
cancellation that is, but still pretty darn good). He was beaming to
see the success. And it was well deserved.

That idea entered
into my book of software design philosophy: design like you’ll be
working on the project for 10 years. Think of the responsibility that
would mean. In 10 years, you’ll be paying for the short cuts and short
sightedness. So don’t.

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