Software systems exist in a state of constant decay. Our role is not to “build clean code,” but to inject the energy of order to reverse the slide into chaos.
The Premise: Readability, maintainability, and testability are not objectives—they are the Yield (side effects) of a system where entropy has been successfully suppressed.
I. THE ANCHOR: Preservation of Intent
- The Logic: Software is a translation of business intent. If the “Why” is lost, the code becomes legacy immediately.
- The Focus: Solve for the outcome (X), not the literal request (Y). Build for the territory (reality), not the map (the ticket).
- The Yield: Maintainability. The code remains relevant even as the business evolves.
II. THE SHIELD: Structural Integrity
- The Logic: Complexity is the primary driver of entropy. To resist decay, a system must be a “living” assembly of autonomous units rather than a single, calcified mass.
- The Focus: Gall’s Law & The Ship of Theseus. We evolve complex systems from simple, working nodes. We design for Atomic Replacement: any node can be swapped, upgraded, or deleted without the system losing its identity, stability, or purpose.
- The Yield: Structural Fluidity. The capacity for the system to reorganize its parts to meet new demands without increasing internal friction or generating technical debt.
III. THE FILTER: Narrative Abstraction
- The Logic: Technical implementation is “Noise”; Business Intent is “Signal.”
- The Focus: Signal-to-Noise Ratio. Hide the “How” behind a high-level narrative. The public interface should read like a story of business events, not a technical manual.
- The Yield: Readability. The code becomes a self-documenting record of intent.
IV. THE BUFFER: Subsidiarity
- The Logic: Infrastructure is volatile. If the core logic depends on the tools, the tools will eventually “infect” the logic.
- The Focus: Push technical authority (DBs, APIs) to the periphery. Infrastructure exists to serve logic; it never dictates it.
- The Yield: Testability. Logic passes the “Airplane Test”—it can be validated instantly in any environment.
V. THE SENSOR: Decipherability
- The Logic: You cannot stop the decay you cannot see.
- The Focus: Prioritize observability so boundaries are visible. Ensure the state of the system is always decipherable without a debugger or a redeploy.
- The Yield: Robustness. Failures are localized and diagnosed before they cascade.
VI. THE ENGINE: Mechanical Sympathy
- The Logic: Computational waste is literal physical entropy (heat).
- The Focus: The Principle of Least Action. Optimize for the path of least resistance. Respect the physical reality of the hardware.
- The Yield: Efficiency. By minimizing waste, we unlock capacity for the system to do more than originally intended.
THE CORE SUMMARY
| Pillar | Focus | Goal / Yield (Side Effect) |
|---|---|---|
| The Anchor | Intent | Protect the “Why” (Maintainability) |
| The Shield | Structure | Changeability & Scalability |
| The Filter | Clarity | Maximize the Signal (Readability) |
| The Buffer | Boundary | Isolate Infrastructure (Testability & Complexity) |
| The Sensor | Visibility | Ensure Decipherability (Robustness) |
| The Engine | Efficiency | Minimize Waste (Yield/Capacity) |
THE VIOLATION GUIDE (Red Flags)
- The Paper Tiger: Meeting the spec but failing the user’s actual need.
- The Distributed Monolith: Inability to deploy or change one node without another.
- Leaky Narratives: Technical implementation details appearing in business logic.
- The Infected Core: Business rules tethered to their technical environment.
- The Black Box: Needing a redeploy or debugger just to understand a failure.
- Computational Friction: Scaling only possible by adding hardware rather than optimizing or scaling out.
THE ENTROPY CHECKLIST
- E – Encapsulation (The Filter): Does the interface show Business Intent or Implementation Detail?
- N – Node Autonomy (The Shield): Can this be changed and deployed without touching its neighbors?
- T – Territory Alignment (The Anchor): Does this solve the user’s reality or just the Jira ticket?
- R – Reliability (The Engine): Is this the “Path of Least Action,” or is it creating heat?
- O – Observability (The Sensor): Can a stranger diagnose a failure without looking at the source code?
- P – Peripheral Subsidiarity (The Buffer): Is the logic “Infected” (tethered) by its database or cloud provider?
- Y – Yield Optimization (The Outcome): Does this change make the next change easier?