Six principles of fat software

We follow these principles:

Fat software

Lean is boring; lean is tasteless. Constantly doing the minimum you can in the least amount of time is a recipe for ending up with a bland and boring product.

We want our software like we want our steaks:* juicy, full of flavour and big enough to satiate our appetite.

* Replace with tofu, quorn or similar if you prefer.

More than enough time

Some things have to take time. 18 year old whisky can't be done in half the time.

Traditional napkins

New and shiny shouldn't distract us from the qualities inherent in traditional tools. It has been claimed that the quality of a restaurant's napkins is the best indicator of its quality.

But you can't just change the napkins to improve; rather it's that even the lowly piece of cloth meant for wiping dirty fingers on has had time and care spent on it.

Proper, starched napkins also require effort. There is no shortcut; someone has to take care of it.

Silverware

We keep our tools shiny and polished, both what the end user sees and what we use ourselves. Plastic cutlery can ruin the finest meal. There are those who claim to have found silver bullets; far too often we find that they too consist of plastic underneath the sprayed-on silver surface.

Locally produced

Good food tells a story.

A great chef is intimately familiar with the ingredients being used: their history, their taste and what they go well together with. McDonald's grow their own potatoes; can you afford to not have an opinion about the ones you are using?

This is not to say that foreign produce cannot be used. But you must be as obsessive about the ingredients you outsource as the ones you purchase directly.

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