Sun 14 Dec 2008
A thought or two about design or why do engineers often skip over cost
Posted by J5 under Gnome , humor , usability1 Comment
We see bad design around us all the time. Often adequate design wins over great design . In a ecosystem based on limited resources (time, money, component parts, etc.) at what point does a better design start giving diminishing returns? Is this a good thing? – That problem has been solved we should move on to the next – or is it a bad thing? – The solution to that problem causes adverse side effects but the cost of fixing it is too high. In a world of limited resources it often takes a large catalyst or new markets to disrupt entrenched adequate design. I suspect there are good and bad sides to every decision here with some situations leaning further one way or the other.
That is a good leeway into my next thought about design in that decision making is a huge part of good design. Decisions are hard. Avoiding them has its cost. My favourite is that collectively avoiding a decision makes it harder for other decisions to be made down the road. You need to decide if it is worth the cost.
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December 15th, 2008 at 3:30 am
There is a famous quote saying something like “better is the enemy of good”. If you have an adequate design, trying to find a hypothetical “better” may ruin your project.
But the decision is tricky, one should *not* be content with the status-quo and stop trying to improve.