Avoidance

The nastiest design problems I’ve encountered aren’t the ones I was totally ignorant to – unless you’re working completely outside of your competency, there shouldn’t be enough of those to cause too much havoc, and there’s usually some leeway for latent conditions. They are the ones known but not acknowledged, the ones you notice once but purposefully ignore because they are already too painful to solve, or the flow-on effects of a change are too great. If you admitted their existence, you would miss your deadline, or have to make a hard call, or ask for help, so the problem stays in. And in all likelihood, there are enough other factors that you truly will forget about it and remain blissfully ignorant until it’s built. Avoidance is the worst option of all. Simple rule I try to follow when making a close call: nobody gets away with anything, especially not me.