The Eric Normand Podcast My response to Out of the Tar Pit
Jun 29, 2020
Dive into the fascinating world of software complexity as the discussion unfolds the crucial distinction between essential and accidental complexity. Discover how systems can grow nonlinearly in complexity and explore practical strategies for managing and reducing it. Key insights are drawn from the influential paper 'Out of the Tar Pit,' making this an enlightening conversation for anyone interested in navigating the intricate landscape of software development.
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Reducing Complexity
- Eric Normand emphasizes reducing software complexity as the most effective approach.
- Removing state bits significantly simplifies systems, although there are functional limits.
Three Areas of Complexity
- Eric Normand proposes a practical complexity model with three areas: domain, architecture, and development.
- Domain complexity stems from inherent problem complexity, like rocket science software.
Complexity as Nonlinearities
- Nonlinearities are inherently hard to understand and get right because they create vast multidimensional spaces where parts are okay, and parts are not.
- Ensuring you are in the correct part of the space is challenging and requires more code, understanding, tools, and analysis.
