Object Design: Roles, Responsibilities, and Collaborations

Chapter 10. On Design

Lewis Thomas, noted physician and science writer, observed, “I’m not as fond of the notion of serendipity as I used to be. It seems to me now that as you get research going... things are bound to begin happening if you’ve got your wits about you. You create the lucky accidents.” From time to time, object designers make startling discoveries, too—insights that make you want to stand up and shout. New ideas that you just know you should push on. Revelations that lead to deep understanding about how your software should work and what its limitations are. But amid these discoveries, you must keep working on the problem and not get distracted. That’s the hard part: keeping design challenges in perspective while making progress ...