The Engineer's 'But If'
Some of the worst-designed things in our world were probably born out of a round table discussion in which an engineer at some point said, “But if we need … we’d have to …” and mistakenly thought that making the statement would kill the idea.
RVs are a perfect example of this. “But if we need a rolling house on wheels capable of freeway speeds over a relatively long range, we’d have to [make an RV]!”
Typically, these conversations end in everyone groaning, shifting in their chairs, and killing the idea. Every now and then one slips through, which is how you get to having the Deathtrap Capsule Front Doors from Hell in my office building, RVs, the double-necked Keytar, and many other awful things that shouldn’t exist.
I try to avoid making the wrong choice at these points, but it’s hard, especially when doing work on a virtual plane of some kind. The entropy increased within the design process usually derives from the foolishness of the designer.