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/ An architect's first work is apt to be \
| spare and clean. He knows he doesn't |
| know what he's doing, so he does it |
| carefully and with great restraint. |
| |
| As he designs the first work, frill |
| after frill and embellishment after |
| embellishment occur to him. These get |
| stored away to be used "next time." |
| Sooner or later the first system is |
| finished, and the architect, with firm |
| confidence and a demonstrated mastery |
| of that class of systems, is ready to |
| build a second system. |
| |
| This second is the most dangerous |
| system a man ever designs. When he does |
| his third and later ones, his prior |
| experiences will confirm each other as |
| to the general characteristics of such |
| systems, and their differences will |
| identify those parts of his experience |
| that are particular and not |
| generalizable. |
| |
| The general tendency is to over-design |
| the second system, using all the ideas |
| and frills that were cautiously |
| sidetracked on the first one. The |
| result, as Ovid says, is a "big pile." |
| |
| -- Frederick Brooks, "The Mythical Man |
\ Month" /
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