The Lost Art of Software Modeling
Hi everyone,
Ever wonder why some experienced developers seem to have a sixth sense for software architecture?
It’s a question that goes beyond just knowing design patterns. The answer lies in a keen insight that only comes with real-world experience.
Many developers early in their careers focus on collecting solutions for problems they've never actually faced. It's like having a toolbox full of expensive tools but never having built or repaired anything.
You can have the most expensive screwdriver in the world, but if you've never had to take something apart to fix it, you don't truly understand its utility.
Think about a feature as seemingly simple as an e-commerce shopping cart. At first, it's just a list. But then you consider the details: How do you persist it between sessions? What happens when a product goes out of stock? How do you handle promotions that expire?
That "simple list" quickly reveals itself as a complex system. The complexity was always there; the difference is being able to see it from the start.
The truth is, great architecture is about understanding context, not just applying the "right formula."
A mediocre architecture that is well-executed and shipped with conviction will always be better than a "perfect" one that never leaves the drawing board.
I dive deeper into how this intuition is built over time—through studying real systems, analyzing failures, and having the courage to make critical decisions—in my latest article.
Read the full article here: The Lost Art of Software Modeling
I'd love to hear from you. What was the moment it "clicked" and you started to see the architecture behind the code?
Best,
Marcelo Santos