We’re still hard at work on Hyperactive, a content management system for independent news production, and we’ve started to get a lot more people working on the software. So, at this point it seems to make sense to lay out some software design guidelines. Since we’re building software with a non-corporate purpose, let’s think outside of the normal scope of corporate “agile” manifestos (“delivering more value to your client”) and take some design inspiration from a different sphere: Soviet assault rifles.
Despite the rather poor reputation of Soviet technology these days, those guys had some stuff figured out when it came to design. Consider the AK-47 assault rifle designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It’s simple, and rugged. It takes a beating, refusing to jam even when it’s been exposed to mud, dirt, or hasn’t been maintained properly. The trigger guard is huge, so it can be fired even by gloved users in Arctic conditions. It can be maintained, and even manufactured by, people with access to simple machine tools.
A news website and an assault rifle might seem like completely unrelated areas of systems design, but let’s think about users for a moment. They’re trying to produce news, sometimes under stressful conditions. Maybe they just got in off the street after getting tear-gassed. Maybe they’re tired. Maybe they’ve got 20 things to do and their boyfriend has just been arrested. These people don’t want to screw around with anything too complicated. They want something that works.
This also goes for another set of users: the people who install and maintain the software when it’s running on production servers. The lower the number of software dependencies, and the less screwing around when it comes to installing, maintaining and upgrading the software, the better.
So, when you’re working on software, and you’re faced with a design choice, ask yourself the simple question:
“What would Kalashnikov do?”
