Death by Thousand Cuts - The Hidden Cost of Over-Engineering

As an engineer, I’ve seen firsthand how the pursuit of instant gratification and quick solutions often becomes a trap in modern engineering practices. This isn't just a trend; it’s a widespread mindset I've observed across technologies—Pega being a use case here.

The problem? Over-engineering.

Here’s what happens: an engineer, brimming with talent and creativity, faces a challenge. The feature they want doesn’t exist in the product, so they decide to improvise, to tailor it instantly to meet immediate needs. It feels ingenious at the moment, but we need to stop and ask: Are we solving a problem or creating a bigger one down the road?

When we tamper with a program to suit our short-term vision, we are accumulating something insidious—technical debt.

And just like financial debt, technical debt compounds silently. Over time, it becomes a burden the entire organization struggles to pay off.

Let’s dive deeper:

Imagine you buy a TV. It has almost all the features you want, but it’s missing one or two that you think would make it perfect. Instead of understanding why the manufacturer didn’t include those features or finding ways to adapt within the existing system, you decide to open it up and rewire the hardware yourself.

Feels clever, right? But now, if something goes wrong, that warranty—your safety net—is gone. You’ve deviated from the original product, and now it’s your responsibility to deal with the consequences. This happens when we over-engineer software or tailor solutions without considering the long-term impact.

Deviation from the original doesn’t just void warranties—it amplifies future risks.

The Cost of Engineering "Smartness"

I’m not here to demean anyone’s talent. I admire engineers who can come up with brilliant solutions. But what I value even more is a smart engineer who says,

“Let’s discuss this with the product team. Let’s understand how we can shape the feedback to enable product improvement. Or explain to the product teams the risk that we bear by deviating.”

That’s the difference between engineering for today and engineering for tomorrow; the long-term mindset is about collaboration and understanding, not just instant solutions. The alternative—modifying, mending, and tweaking without a bigger picture—leads to a landscape of fragmented, unmanageable systems.

This situation is called Death by thousand cuts, where we are unable to identify the single source of technical debt

We’ve seen this play out with major financial institutions struggling with decades-old mainframe systems that limit innovation. Telecom companies find themselves buried under custom-coded solutions, hindering their ability to adopt newer technologies swiftly. Retail giants face similar challenges with outdated inventory systems that impede their responsiveness to market changes. Each case showcases the same core issue—accumulated debt from constant tweaking and patching without addressing the root cause.

Solutions to Overcome the Trap of Technical Debt:

1. Focus on Modular Design: Build systems and applications with modularity in mind. This allows small parts to be updated or replaced without disrupting the entire system. It also promotes a clear separation of concerns, reducing complexity.
2. Establish Clear Communication Channels: Ensure that product and engineering teams work together closely. When there is a feature gap, engineers should be encouraged to communicate why and discuss the trade-offs of different approaches.
3. Embrace Continuous Refactoring: Make code refactoring a regular part of development, not an afterthought. By continually improving and simplifying code, you prevent the debt from accumulating and compounding into a crisis.
4. Adopt Modern Development practices: Shift towards low-code development practices and one-touch deployment methodologies to create a culture of collaboration, testing, and continuous feedback. This culture helps teams focus on incremental improvements and minimizes the risk of major, unmanageable changes.
5. Invest in Knowledge Sharing and Training: A well-trained team understands the impact of technical debt. Regular training and cross-team collaboration sessions can empower engineers to make wiser, long-term decisions.
6. Create a Debt Reduction Strategy: Establish a proactive approach to paying off technical debt, like establishing parapets and automated code checks. Schedule regular reviews to view from the standpoint of how far are we from the original product to see the balance while reaching the target state and allocate resources to refactor and improve existing systems. Treat technical debt as a strategic priority rather than a side task.

The Bigger Picture for Technology Leaders

For tech leaders, this is a critical lesson. Innovation is more than just enhancing a product today; it’s about maintaining it sustainably tomorrow. Challenge your teams to think bigger, communicate with product teams, and align on a shared vision.

In the end, it’s not about showing how clever we can be today but about ensuring that what we build remains resilient tomorrow. Let’s rethink our approach, engage in open conversations with our teams, and make choices that pave the way for sustainable innovation.

That’s how we engineer a future worth building. 🌱

#TechnicalDebt #EngineeringMindset #OverEngineering #ThoughtLeadership