7 ms·

I tend use the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" metaphor. If it leans too much, the tower will fall down. If it doesn't tilt at all, you won't sell tickets to tourists.

I tend use the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" metaphor. If it leans too much, the tower will fall down. If it doesn't tilt at all, you won't sell tickets to tourists. The art is to find the sweet spot.

rimliu 7y ago
OTOH there are thousands of tourist attractions that are not leaning. So unless the only interesting feature of your software is the technical debt I am not sure how this metaphor applies.
- pferde 7y ago
  I think the metaphor is trying to say that in real world, things don't always work out perfectly, and you often have to resort to creating some technical debt to make the deadlines for the release. Even if it's not pretty. This metaphor cannot be stretched too far, though, since the actual tower has the leaning as one of its main attractions, whereas in your project, the technical debt is best hidden from tourists (customers). :)
  - laumars 7y ago
    I agree. In fact I think it's quite a nice high-level illustration of the pros and cons of tech debt. It amazes me the number of people who think metaphors and analogies are literal copies of the concept they're approximating and thus proceed to nitpick those comparisons.
akerro 7y ago
> If it doesn't tilt at all, you won't sell tickets to tourists. I dont know about that... Eiffel tower is vertically straight and sells a lot of tickets.
- fouc 7y ago
  A vertically straight "The Leaning Tower of Pisa" won't sell tickets though.
  - grenoire 7y ago
    It's not a bug, it's a feature.
- coldtea 7y ago
  That's because it's unique. The tower of Piza is like several other towers if you take out the leaning part.
  - matteuan 7y ago
    It's beautiful and also a very important piece of Romanesque architecture. It's probably the greatest example of circular bell tower. I'm sure that if it was not leaning, it would be still very appreciated, maybe not by the postcard turists but surely not considered "like several other towers".
    - coldtea 7y ago
      >it's probably the greatest example of circular bell tower. Yeah, but in Italy those are a dime a dozen.
- snidane 7y ago
  I sometimes use a container ship example. Management makes decisions about steering course and that is possible when you have small cargo. If you decided to pile up 1 kilometer tall stack of containers and didn't bother laying some of them down at the port then you'll have damn hard time steering the ship. You have to make sure it doesn't topple over completely by that point.
- Angostura 7y ago
  That's why its like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and not like'A Tower'.
rooam-dev 7y ago
I use "golden goose" example.
ithkuil 7y ago
I often use the leaning tower metaphor too but with a different meaning: https://bonkersworld.net/all-engineers-are-the-same https://bonkersworld.net/all-engineers-are-the-same

I tend use the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" metaphor. If it leans too much, the tower will fall down. If it doesn't tilt at all, you won't sell tickets to tourists. The art is to find the sweet spot.

rimliu 7y ago

OTOH there are thousands of tourist attractions that are not leaning. So unless the only interesting feature of your software is the technical debt I am not sure how this metaphor applies.

pferde 7y ago
I think the metaphor is trying to say that in real world, things don't always work out perfectly, and you often have to resort to creating some technical debt to make the deadlines for the release. Even if it's not pretty. This metaphor cannot be stretched too far, though, since the actual tower has the leaning as one of its main attractions, whereas in your project, the technical debt is best hidden from tourists (customers). :)
- laumars 7y ago
  I agree. In fact I think it's quite a nice high-level illustration of the pros and cons of tech debt. It amazes me the number of people who think metaphors and analogies are literal copies of the concept they're approximating and thus proceed to nitpick those comparisons.

akerro 7y ago

> If it doesn't tilt at all, you won't sell tickets to tourists. I dont know about that... Eiffel tower is vertically straight and sells a lot of tickets.

fouc 7y ago
A vertically straight "The Leaning Tower of Pisa" won't sell tickets though.
- grenoire 7y ago
  It's not a bug, it's a feature.
coldtea 7y ago
That's because it's unique. The tower of Piza is like several other towers if you take out the leaning part.
- matteuan 7y ago
  It's beautiful and also a very important piece of Romanesque architecture. It's probably the greatest example of circular bell tower. I'm sure that if it was not leaning, it would be still very appreciated, maybe not by the postcard turists but surely not considered "like several other towers".
  - coldtea 7y ago
    >it's probably the greatest example of circular bell tower. Yeah, but in Italy those are a dime a dozen.
snidane 7y ago
I sometimes use a container ship example. Management makes decisions about steering course and that is possible when you have small cargo. If you decided to pile up 1 kilometer tall stack of containers and didn't bother laying some of them down at the port then you'll have damn hard time steering the ship. You have to make sure it doesn't topple over completely by that point.
Angostura 7y ago
That's why its like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and not like'A Tower'.

rooam-dev 7y ago

I use "golden goose" example.

ithkuil 7y ago

I often use the leaning tower metaphor too but with a different meaning: https://bonkersworld.net/all-engineers-are-the-same https://bonkersworld.net/all-engineers-are-the-same