8. Tradeoffs are key, but we’re not very good at them
Getting something for nothing is great, but it isn't usually possible
We almost always choose in favor of hard criteria (e.g., performance) over soft criteria (e.g., extensibility)
- This makes sense, both practically and theoretically
- Brooks’ Golden Rule doesn’t really work
- But the situation leaves us up a creek a lot of the time
Maybe we’re about to get better at this as the cost of people continues to grow