--- title: I follow an architecture principle I call The Law of... description: Software systems inevitably drift from their original design as teams change and new requirements emerge. To combat this "collective amnesia," design systems... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-follow-an-architecture-principle-i-call-the-law-of-collective-amnesia-8kstqv5ka twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I follow an architecture principle I call The Law of Collective Amnesia | daily.dev og:description: Software systems inevitably drift from their original design as teams change and new requirements emerge. To combat this "collective amnesia," design systems... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-follow-an-architecture-principle-i-call-the-law-of-collective-amnesia-8kstqv5ka og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/8ksTqV5kA.png og:image:alt: I follow an architecture principle I call The Law of Collective Amnesia og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I follow an architecture principle I call The Law of Collective Amnesia **[ITNEXT](https://daily.dev/sources/itnext)** · 4 min read · 78 upvotes · 8 comments ## Summary Software systems inevitably drift from their original design as teams change and new requirements emerge. To combat this "collective amnesia," design systems where the correct architectural path is the easiest one to follow. Use contracts as constraints, control entry/exit points, build modular interfaces from day one, and assume future developers won't understand or follow your intentions. Documentation alone won't prevent architectural decay—structural guardrails that make the right choice the path of least resistance will. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@fabianletsch** · 10 upvotes > Just imagine everybody interacting with the codebase is a moron. > > > I love this principle, its how i work with my adhd as well. If i want something to be done by me i have to shape my environment in a way that i cannot not do it. For example i want to weigh myself everyday, for this reason i put my scale in plain sight where i cannot walk past it without seeing it. **@xidib78169** · 1 upvotes > Great article. ok, what shoud we do? **@giogdev** · 0 upvotes > I'm working in a company where I write projects startups, write documentation, talk to people about pattern and system architectures. > > > The results? Some people don't follow the rules and the pattern because they don't care about that, they don't care about the company and about their job. They always choose the most easy way to "develop" some task and the result is a constant-fight against these colleagues. > > > ... and the company doesn't care so much about that because "_quantity is always more important than quality_" 😔 ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [If Architectures Could Talk, They’d Quote Your Boss](https://daily.dev/posts/if-architectures-could-talk-they-d-quote-your-boss-qjk70xvpp) · InfoQ · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [What the hell have you built.](https://daily.dev/posts/what-the-hell-have-you-built--hnpv2bjl3) · Hacker News · 42 upvotes · 5 comments - [\*People\* detangle a ball of mud](https://daily.dev/posts/people-detangle-a-ball-of-mud-wdcr1oaxs) · swizec.com · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to be useful as a software architect](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-be-useful-as-a-software-architect-4fbizapkg) · swizec.com · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#architecture](https://daily.dev/tags/architecture), [#microservices](https://daily.dev/tags/microservices), [#technical-debt](https://daily.dev/tags/technical-debt) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-follow-an-architecture-principle-i-call-the-law-of-collective-amnesia-8kstqv5ka) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I follow an architecture principle I call The Law of Collective Amnesia","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-follow-an-architecture-principle-i-call-the-law-of-collective-amnesia-8kstqv5ka","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-follow-an-architecture-principle-i-call-the-law-of-collective-amnesia-8kstqv5ka"},"datePublished":"2026-02-15T19:58:36.885Z","dateModified":"2026-02-15T19:59:01.954Z","description":"Software systems inevitably drift from their original design as teams change and new requirements emerge. 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If i want something to be done by me i have to shape my environment in a way that i cannot not do it. For example i want to weigh myself everyday, for this reason i put my scale in plain sight where i cannot walk past it without seeing it.","datePublished":"2026-02-21T17:57:09.716Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/8ksTqV5kA#c-8Ah4O5o9r","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Fabian Letsch","url":"https://daily.dev/fabianletsch","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKR6BVy_wn23EoOKq7-BlszlcXcLmASlnb7l-GtS-q1bePnkaJf=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":10}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Great article. ok, what shoud we do?","datePublished":"2026-02-26T10:27:26.879Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/8ksTqV5kA#c-laQ7HV3pr","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"test","url":"https://daily.dev/xidib78169","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I’m working in a company where I write projects startups, write documentation, talk to people about pattern and system architectures.\nThe results? Some people don’t follow the rules and the pattern because they don’t care about that, they don’t care about the company and about their job. They always choose the most easy way to “develop” some task and the result is a constant-fight against these colleagues.\n… and the company doesn’t care so much about that because “quantity is always more important than quality” 😔","datePublished":"2026-03-04T07:44:27.457Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/8ksTqV5kA#c-OHDQktc1F","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Giorgio","url":"https://daily.dev/giogdev","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--VzsFQRBX--/f_auto/v1742975876/avatars/avatar_bUTlUNyzqZVBNMJnTQ8PW"}}]} ```