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A "temporary" solution A.K.A. don't bother with good design
2020-09-29
Piotr Kononow
You have probably seen those mystical "temporary" solutions, right? "Oh, it's just [enter excuse here], don’t waste time on the design”. I am guilty myself. On many occasions. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of short-term results over long term value. And poor data design means data users will not be able to find it, understand it, data duplication and silos, inconsistency, and errors from incorrect assumptions. So please do it for yourself – invest a little time in the design – you’ll thank yourself later.
However, if you don’t want to spend time on the design here’s a convenient list of excuses for you for every occasion.
Excuses cheat sheet:
- We will refactor it later
- We will implement this new system
- It’s just for us
- Only our code will access it
- Who would need that data, anyway?
- We need to be agile
- WE will know how it works, right?
- But when you study the code (locked up in the repository) for a few days it will be obvious, right?
Share your excuses for poor design.