The Theory of Second Systems

August 3rd, 2006

This theory was formulated by Frederik Brooks from IBM.

He worked on big computer projects and learned from experience that any second version of a succesful project generally includes all the features that were left out of the first version because of time or funding limits.

Developers, when given enough time and money will try to build in every imaginable feature in the second system making it unmanagable, bloated and inefficient.

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One Response to “The Theory of Second Systems”

Lex van der Sluijs on August 8, 2006 11:32 am (11:32)
Second System Syndrome, yeah… Been there, done that!

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