Build fast with strong centers

I spent the first half of my career as a software engineer working for large companies, then I went into consulting where I continue to work with a variety of businesses. I have built dozens of software applications and maintain many of them even today. 

My early experiences of building so-so software products with lists and lists of features, led me to believe that more features do not make better products.  Emphasis on getting every conceivable feature into the software takes time and effort.  But in the end, the features do not make the product good, or even better.  

What I learned along the way is when you build a software product that doesn’t have a strong vision it takes longer. When you don’t know what you are building, you add features. Building the right software means including the right set of features, but not all of them.  Knowing what features to delete is the hard part.

The idea of Strong Center Design comes from Christopher Alexander and the ideas he describes in his books, “The Nature of Order”. Life changing. That is all I need to say.   

Thad Scheer provides a good overview of how I approach product design in this tweet. I call it Strong Center Design.

If you never heard of Strong Centers (from Christopher Alexander), I urge you to explore the world of Strong Center Design. For those who build products, the philosophy is life shaping. #StrongCenterDesign https://t.co/JPQQ5GUhmp @TheresaAtSphere pic.twitter.com/8TEsMIw3KK

— Thad Scheer (@ThadOfSphere) September 12, 2022

Christopher Alexander inspired me to reach a whole new level of meaning in my work and life. I wish that more understood his ideas as I suggested in my earlier blog, “Christopher Alexander: More to his ideas than most understood”.