Weekly Reflection #7 - Simple Systems
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe)
Insight
Protect the simplicity of your foundational systems.
I've been reading Designing Data-Intensive Applications for Book Overflow. I can't believe I hadn't read this book sooner. It's a goldmine of practical wisdom with a deep exploration of tradeoffs. One insight that stood out is that the larger and more reliable a complex system needs to be, the simpler its building blocks must be. You can't scale complexity on top of a complicated foundation. The systems that endure are built from small, well-reasoned primitives that compose predictably.
Wisdom
"A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system."
— John Gall, Gall's Law
Reflection
What are you doing to protect the simplicity of your foundational systems?
Lagniappe
- I loved this interview with Ken Thompson on how a disk scheduling algorithm accidentally became Unix
- New Book Discussion episode on Book Overflow: Mastering the Behavioral Interview by Austen McDonald. Loved this book.
- As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Reply and let me know what resonates.