Reminder: Quick and Dirty Fixes Are Expensive

Last week I wrote a short anecdote about getting big, upfront design wrong. The next chapter is on quick and dirty fixes. You know, those hacks we do to “make something work”. These often come about after frenetic debugging session, where we debug a system into existence. Smacking a piece of drywall on top of the existing drywall is a real-world example.

Quick and dirty fixes often have side-effects and so does this. Notice that a drawer is missing? Its because it won’t fit when the wall is 1 centimeter, or about half an inch, thicker.

Fixes like these need to be done over, taking (almost) twice as long as doing it right the first time around.