Once upon a time, a decision was made
· 6 min read
Every engineering organisation has its stories.
- “We tried that once and it failed.”
- “There’s a reason we built it this way.”
- “Don’t touch that service.”
- “The database can’t handle it.”
- “We can’t deploy on Fridays.[^1]”
Nobody is ever entirely sure whether these are:
- historical facts
- cautionary tales
- institutional trauma
- or the architectural equivalent of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale passed verbally between increasingly confused villagers.