Psychological Elements of Software Architecture, a short list
▻http://zguide.zeromq.org/page:all#toc133
“- Stupidity: our mental bandwidth is limited, so we’re all stupid at some point. The architecture has to be simple to understand. This is the number one rule: simplicity beats functionality, every single time. If you can’t understand an architecture on a cold gray Monday morning before coffee, it is too complex.
– Selfishness: we act only out of self-interest, so the architecture must create space and opportunity for selfish acts that benefit the whole. Selfishness is often indirect and subtle. For example, I’ll spend hours helping someone else understand something because that could be worth days to me later.
– Laziness: we make lots of assumptions, many of which are wrong. We are happiest when we can spend the least effort to get a result or to test an assumption quickly, so the architecture has to make this possible. Specifically, that means it must be simple.
– Jealousy: we’re jealous of others, which means we’ll overcome our stupidity and laziness to prove others wrong and beat them in competition. The architecture thus has to create space for public competition based on fair rules that anyone can understand.
– Fear: we’re unwilling to take risks, especially if it makes us look stupid. Fear of failure is a major reason people conform and follow the group in mass stupidity. The architecture should make silent experimentation easy and cheap, giving people opportunity for success without punishing failure.
– Reciprocity: we’ll pay extra in terms of hard work, even money, to punish cheats and enforce fair rules. The architecture should be heavily rule-based, telling people how to work together, but not what to work on.
– Conformity: we’re happiest to conform, out of fear and laziness, which means if the patterns are good, clearly explained and documented, and fairly enforced, we’ll naturally choose the right path every time.
– Pride: we’re intensely aware of our social status, and we’ll work hard to avoid looking stupid or incompetent in public. The architecture has to make sure every piece we make has our name on it, so we’ll have sleepless nights stressing about what others will say about our work.
– Greed: we’re ultimately economic animals (see selfishness), so the architecture has to give us economic incentive to invest in making it happen. Maybe it’s polishing our reputation as experts, maybe it’s literally making money from some skill or component. It doesn’t matter what it is, but there must be economic incentive. Think of architecture as a market place, not an engineering design.”
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