> Paradoxically, good design is self-effacing: bad design is often more impressive than good.

Rings very true. Engineers are rated based on the "complexity" of the work they do. This system seems to encourage over-engineered solutions to all problems.

I don't think there is enough appreciation for KISS - which I first learned about as an undergrad 20 years ago.

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anal_reactor 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

This is unfortunately true. People love complex solutions, and suggesting a simple one usually comes across as incompetent, while the reality is, simple solutions are easy to manage, which ensures the success of the project as a whole.

Sure, there are problems that are inherently complex and require complex solutions. But most likely yours isn't one of them, most likely you have a basic web app.

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chrisweekly 5 days ago | parent [-]

One of the smartest engineers I've encountered in my 27 year career advised me to strive to do "the simplest thing that could possibly work" - not just to get unblocked on something new, but as a guiding principle. It resonated (and goes beyond "KISS", for me), and IME is real wisdom.

	▲	jdlshore 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		That’s a slogan from Extreme Programming! Coined by Ron Jeffries, I think, along with YAGNI (You Aren’t Gonna Need It), as a way of reminding people not to overengineer for features that in the plan.

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SatvikBeri 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Every now and then, I try to go through our codebase and write up the parts that we rarely think about – these are usually the cases where we made good decisions early on.