Why complexity in software projects is bad (and you should not advertise it)

Why complexity in software projects is bad (and you should not advertise it)

There are (still) many people telling proudly, how complex their product is. There are job ads, explaining that you will “create highly complex software”. These false signals, which I personally saw in many positions and projects, create a potentially huge long-tail problem, not primarily for engineers, but for the product management and engineering team lead. In this blogpost, I want to point out some of those impacts of advertising complexity…

If pragmatism raises technical debt, call it oversimplification (rant)

If pragmatism raises technical debt, call it oversimplification (rant)

The word “pragmatism” or “pragmatic” is, in my personal opinion, the most overrated word in agile development. Many people use this as a buzzword without knowing what it means. I hear people saying “He solved that complex problem in half an hour, he’s so pragmatic!” and think for myself “Yeah, but that ‘solution’ probably causes other devs three times more effort than a sustainable solution would take.”